West Bengal Assembly election 2021, Minakshi Mukherjee profile: CPM candidate to battle heavyweights Mamata Banerjee, Suvendu Adhikari

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has fielded Minakshi Mukherjee against heavyweights Mamata Banerjee (Trinamool Congress) and Suvendu Adhikari (BJP) from the Nandigram Assembly constituency. Mukherjee was announced as the Left-Congress-ISF alliance candidate by Left Front chairman Biman Bose at a press conference. She is the president of the West Bengal unit of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the CPM-associated youth wing. The firebrand orator joined the DYFI local committee in 2008 and rose through ranks to become the state president in 2018, the same year she made it to the CPM’s state committee. The 36-year-old holds a Masters in Political Science and had been a member of the CPM’s student wing Students’ Federation of India since her college days. The Nandigram Assembly constituency lies in the Purba Medinipur district, and will go to polls in the second phase on 10 April. It is a part of the Tamluk Lok Sabha constituency. Elections for the West Bengal Assembly will be held in eight phases, up from seven last time, beginning with polling for 30 seats on 27 March. The second phase of West Bengal’s assembly elections has been scheduled for 1 April and will cover 30 constituencies, followed by the third phase on 6 April for 31 seats, the fourth on 10 April for 44 constituencies, the fifth on 17 April for 45 seats, sixth for 43 seats on 22 April, seventh phase on 26 April for 36 seats and last and eighth phase on 29 April for 35 seats. The results of the election will be declared on 2 May.