West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has picked her constituency to become a Member of the Legislative Assembly and to retain her reign in the state. Though her Trinamool Congress party has secured a landslide victory in the recently-held assembly elections, Mamata Banerjee had lost the race in Nandigram to her aide-turned-foe BJP's Suvendu Adhikari. 

Trinamool Congress has swept 213 seats of 294-member assembly and with the majority of support, Mamata Banerjee had sworn in as the Chief Minister of West Bengal two weeks back without being directly elected as a member of the legislative assembly. As per the constitution, a Chief Minister must be a member of the legislative assembly or legislative council. 

One can take oath as the Chief Minister with the majority support in the assembly but he/she must be elected as a member of the assembly in six months from assuming the office of the Chief Minister. As Mamata Banerjee had taken oath as the Chief Minister without securing a place at the assembly, she is under the constitutional obligation to get elected as an MLA to continue as the Chief Minister. 

Though it was expected that Mamata Banerjee will contest from any of the four constituencies - two where the election didn't take place owing to the demise of the candidates and two where the elected MLAs had resigned, to get elected as an MLA, the reports have now said that she has picked the Bhabanipur constituency to contest and win a seat in the assembly. 

Her move of picking Bhabanipur as her choice to serve the current term in office was confirmed by the constituency's MLA Sovondeb Chattopadhyay. Chattopadhyay has on Friday said that he has resigned from the post of MLA. Through his resignation, the state would be witnessing by-polls for five assembly seats within this year. Mamata Banerjee has already won from the Bhabanipur constituency in the last two elections - 2011 and 2016, which in a way has become her favourite constituency.

In the recent polls, she contested from Nandigram with the determination of defeating her formal aide Suvendu Adhikari, who joined the BJP and carried a fleet of leaders from the Trinamool Congress to the Central ruling party. Chattopadhyay said, "The CM had won twice from Bhabanipur. All party leaders discussed and when I heard she wants to contest from here, I thought I should vacate my seat, there's no pressure. Nobody else has the courage to run the government. I spoke to her. It was her seat and I was just protecting it." He further said that it was the party's decision and he will adhere to it. 

West Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee said, "I have enquired from him if he has resigned voluntarily and without coercion. I am satisfied and I have accepted his resignation." According to PTI, after vacating from Bhabanipur, Chatterjee is likely to contest from the Khardah constituency, where a by-poll will be conducted following the death of party leader Kajal Sinha.