Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Smriti Irani took part in the rally before Adhikari filed the nomination papers.
Adhikari, who switched over to the BJP in December, is up against the chief minister who decided to challenge him at his home ground.
Adhikari won the Nandigram seat as a TMC candidate in 2016 by bagging over 67 per cent of the votes, defeating his nearest rival of the CPI by a margin of 81,230 votes.
Banerjee had filed her nomination on Wednesday.
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