Two former Trinamool Congress municipal leaders, Farzana Chowdhury and Sanchita Mondal, joined the Congress in Kolkata on Wednesday, adding a new political alignment ahead of the next Kolkata Municipal Corporation elections.
Chowdhury, identified as a councillor from Kolkata’s former Ward 64, and Mondal, a councillor from Ward 51 and former borough chairperson, joined the Congress at the office of the party’s Central Kolkata district unit at Haji Mohammad Mohsin Square. West Bengal Congress president Shubhankar Sarkar formally handed them the party flags at the event.
Central Kolkata district Congress president Manas Sarkar, Congress general secretary Partha Bhowmik and Suman Raychowdhury were among the party leaders present, according to Sangbad Pratidin. The move brings two leaders with experience in the city’s municipal system into the Congress ahead of a civic election in which ward-level organisation and local networks are central to campaigning.
Chowdhury’s political career has included affiliations with both the Left and the Trinamool Congress. She was previously associated with the Communist Party of India and won the 2020 municipal election on a Left-backed ticket, before later joining the Trinamool Congress, the report said. Mondal served as a borough chairperson during her municipal political career.
The two leaders are reported to have political support across parts of central Kolkata, including areas between Sealdah and Ballygunge. Their move therefore has significance beyond a formal party switch: it places experienced municipal figures in a different political organisation as parties prepare for the next contest over Kolkata’s civic administration.
The development also highlights the importance of municipal leaders in Kolkata’s political structure. Councillors and borough-level office-bearers operate close to residents on issues involving local roads, drainage, waste management, public health, licensing and neighbourhood services. Changes in their party affiliation can affect ward-level organisation, candidate selection and the way local civic issues are taken to voters.
The Congress has contested elections in West Bengal both independently and in alliance with Left parties over the past 15 years, but the report said those arrangements had not produced significant gains for the party. It added that the Congress’s recent electoral performance in Nandigram and Rejinagar by-elections had improved its acceptability among sections of the Opposition camp.
The report also attributed the Congress’s latest expansion in Kolkata to political movement among leaders seeking alternatives after changes in the state’s political landscape. It described several groups emerging around the Trinamool Congress, while presenting the Congress as one possible destination for leaders changing sides.
The immediate impact of the switch on the KMC elections is not yet established. The next stages to watch are the Congress’s ward-level organisation, its candidate decisions and whether more municipal leaders join the party before the civic election campaign gathers pace.
