Dhaka, Sept. 18 -- Mamata Banerjee's faction of the divided Trinamool Congress suffered another blow on Friday as its Nandigram bypoll candidate withdrew from the race, hours after the Election Commission froze the party's name and symbol.

Sanchita Pradhan Dey, a teacher who lost her job in a recruitment scandal involving 26,000 educators, had been named as the faction's candidate for the West Bengal assembly seat just days earlier, reports NDTV.

Her withdrawal came as Banerjee was addressing a press conference to slam the Election Commission's decision.

Nandigram holds particular significance for Banerjee -- it is the constituency where she lost to former lieutenant Suvendu Adhikari, now the BJP chief minister of West Bengal, in the 2...