KOLKATA: The three constituencies going to the polls on 26 April were won by BJP in 2019.
As Bengal gears up for the second phase of elections on 26 April, the three constituencies going to the polls, Darjeeling, Raiganj, Balurghat, present contrasting pictures, even as the BJP, which won all three seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, hopes to do an encore.
DARJEELING
Darjeeling, known as the Queen of the Hills, has long supported the Bharatiya Janata Party.
In 2009, it elected the former Central Minister Jaswant Singh. In 2014, it put its faith on S.S. Ahluwalia. And in 2019, BJP’s Raju Bista was elected with a massive 60% of the votes polled and a margin of four lakh. However, after toying with the idea of nominating former Foreign Secretary, Harsha Vardhan Shringla, the BJP decided to renominate Bista for the second consecutive term. The constituency comprises parts of Uttar Dinajpur, Kalimpong and Darjeeling districts.
“Darjeeling is a unique constituency with a lot of strategic importance. It has three international borders. Within this constituency, you have the India-Nepal border, the India-Bhutan border and the India-Bangladesh border. If you go further north in Sikkim then you have a border with Tibet and China,” says Shringla, whose family hails from Darjeeling.
“This is a very strategic part of the country and very vulnerable both from outside and within,” he adds.
Bista is pitted against Gopal Lama of the Trinamool Congress. The Congress has fielded Munish Tamang from the seat. But that is just half the story. The actual key players are Bimal Gurung—the former face of the Gorkhaland movement, which remains the most important political issue—and Gurung’s one-time deputy Anit Thapa, and Ajoy Edwards, owner of the town’s iconic Glenary’s bakery and restaurant and founder of the Hamro Party (HP). The trio may not be contesting the election themselves but, as power brokers, their support is being seen as crucial for the candidates in the fray. At stake is not just one Lok Sabha seat, but also Gurung, Edwards and Thapa’s hold on public opinion.
The total population of Darjeeling district, according to the 2011 census (Kalimpong was then a part of Darjeeling) was 1.85 million. Darjeeling has a predominantly Nepali-speaking Gorkha population, the community which has for decades been demanding separation from West Bengal.
For the coming elections, Bimal Gurung has thrown in his lot with the BJP, which he had also supported in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. For BJP candidate and sitting MP, Raju Bista, however, being nominated itself is an achievement of sorts since this is the first time that the BJP, which has won the seat for the past three general elections, has repeated a candidate.
Bista had won the seat in 2019 by a record margin of more than 400,000 votes. While the MP voices confidence of retaining the seat, Gurung says: “I was not present here in 2019 and had just released an audio clip seeking support for Raju Bista. He won by a margin of more than four lakh. Now, I am working at ground zero, and you will see the difference.”
However, the common, and overwhelming, issue is the acute neglect that Darjeeling and the rest of north Bengal have been subjected to by successive governments in Kolkata over the last 77 years since Independence.
This has bred a lot of resentment among the people of the constituency, especially the Gorkhas in the hills which every candidate is seeking to exploit, but Bista seems well-placed to romp home.
RAIGANJ
In stark contrast to Darjeeling, the Raiganj Lok Sabha constituency, situated within the North Dinajpur district of West Bengal, will witness a tough battle between the BJP and the Trinamool Congress.
This constituency encompasses the entire Uttar Dinajpur district and parts of Dakshin Dinajpur district, comprising a diverse mix of urban and rural areas, along with a significant tribal population.
Mamata Banerjee has pitted Krishna Kalyani, a local industrialist and MLA who had crossed over from the BJP after the 2021 Assembly elections, as its candidate against the BJP’s Kartick Paul.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, BJP’s Debasree Chaudhuri won the Raiganj seat with a margin of 60,574 votes and defeated TMC’s Kanaiyalal Agarwal. In 2014, Md. Salim from CPM won the seat, defeating Congress candidate Deepa Dasmunsi by a margin of 1,634 votes.
The BJP decided against nominating Debasree Chaudhuri, its former Central Minister, after getting feedback about intense factionalism in the area.
Though both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee have held rallies and road shows in Raiganj, the outcome is still uncertain.
BALURGHAT
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Balurghat constituency witnessed a closely contested battle, reflecting the intricate political dynamics of the region. The winning candidate for the Balurghat Lok Sabha seat in 2019 was Sukanta Majumdar of BJP, who is currently the state president of the party. He won after getting 45% of the votes, while his TMC rival Arpita Ghosh managed to secure 42%.
Majumdar’s victory marked a significant achievement for the BJP in a region that had traditionally been a stronghold of the TMC and, to some extent, the Left Front. It underscored the BJP’s growing influence in West Bengal’s politics and its ability to make inroads into areas previously dominated by other parties.
The 2019 Lok Sabha election results for Balurghat highlighted the BJP’s emergence as a formidable political force in West Bengal, challenging the dominance of established players like the TMC and the Left Front. The outcome reflected shifting political allegiances and preferences among the electorate, driven by a range of factors including identity politics, development aspirations, and governance issues.
The BJP has repeated Sukanta Majumdar from Balurghat, while the TMC has fielded Biplab Mitra.
Despite a mere 3% victory margin in 2019, Sukanta Majumdar is confident of bettering his performance this time.
“This is not a vote for Sukanta Majumdar. This is a vote for Narendra Modi and his inclusive development work for the people. The people of Balurghat will throw the Trinamool in the dustbin because of its corruption and criminal misgovernance,” says Majumdar.