Malda, March 24: The Congress and the CPM candidates for the Kharba Assembly by-election, Asif Mahababul and Anjumnara Bibi respectively, today submitted their nomination papers to the subdivisional officer of Chanchol.

The by-election is scheduled for April 12. The Kharba seat had fallen vacant after Congress MLA Mahababul Haque died of cancer on October 22. He had defeated Anjumnara by over 10,000 votes in the 2005 polls.

The BJP and the Trinamul Congress candidates will submit their papers tomorrow. Filing of nomination has begun today.

Asif, the son of the late MLA, had submitted his papers accompanied by the party’s district president Rubi Noor, MLA from Englishbazar Krishnendu Chowdhury and sabhadhipati of the Malda Zilla Parishad Goutam Chakraborty.

Mohammed Sahid, a veteran Congress leader of Kharba who was denied the party ticket, and his supporters stayed away. “I am not in the right frame of mind. I have kept myself aloof from the by-poll,” said Sahid, who remained indoor for the past two days.

Asit Bose, a leader of the district unit, sought to downplay the resentment in the Sahid camp. “In Congress politics, such small things are not unusual. This will, however, have little impact on the ballots,” claimed Bose, who is considered close to Union minister Priya Ranjan Das Munshi.

CPM district secretary Jiban Moitra is confident about “wresting” the seat from the Congress this time. “We will highlight the misuse of power by the Congress in the Zilla Parishad,” he said.

The CPM held a public meeting at Kalambagan, while the Congress organised a rally at Chanchol Haat. But neither of them used microphones, thanks to a ban on the use of loudspeakers for the Higher Secondary examinations.