West Bengal agriculture minister and veteran TMC leader Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay vacated the Bhabanipur assembly seat on Friday, paving way for Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to contest bypoll from her old bastion, party sources said.

Banerjee, who lost the polls from Nandigram, needs to get elected to the assembly within six months to hold on to the chief minister’s chair. TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh, however, refused to divulge anything on Banerjee’s re-election, and said the party will come up with a statement at an appropriate time.