Kolkata: Nine seats going to polls in the last phase of Lok Sabha elections in Kolkata, its suburbs and Sunderban region were never won by BJP, except Dum Dum. South Bengal, specially Kolkata and adjoining seats, are considered as a bastion of Trinamool Congress.
In 2019, Trinamool won all the nine seats going to the polls on June 1. Out of these nine seats, several political heavyweights are in the fray in the south Bengal region including Trinamool general secretary Abhishek Banerjee in Diamond Harbour. Banerjee is party’s de facto number two and has vowed to win the seat with the highest margin. Another Trinamool stronghold is Kolkata Uttar (North), fought by Sudip Bandyopadhyay who has a tough challenger this time with former Trinamool MLA Tapas Roy fighting on a BJP ticket.
A key battle is on the anvil this time in Jadavpur with a three-cornered contest between Trinamool youth leader Sayoni Ghosh, CPI-M youth brigade representative Srijan Bhattacharya and BJP’s Anirban Ganguly. Trinamool has a complete stronghold in Kolkata Dakshin (South) which includes Mamata Banerjee‘s assembly constituency. The seat is witnessing mostly an all-women contest with Trinamool’s Mala Roy contesting against BJP’s Debashree Chaudhuri and CPI-M’s Saira Shah Halim.
While Roy is a sitting MP, Debashree Chaudhuri had won the 2019 election from the Raiganj Lok Sabha seat.
Basirhat is the most important seat as poll heat in this constituency was at its peak throughout the election and the contest became a prestige fight between the Trinamool and BJP. Sandeshkhali was the flashpoint from January 5 after Trinamool supporters of arrested Trinamool leader Shahjahan Sheikh attacked ED officials and protests by women of Sandeshkhali ensued.
Dum Dum constituency in Kolkata’s suburbs will witness veteran Trinamool three-time MP Saugata Roy facing BJP’s Shilbhadra Dutta and CPI-M’s Sujan Chakraborty. The Dum Dum belt has dedicated Left voters, posing difficulty for Trinamool. Lok Sabha results in these nine constituencies are crucial for Trinamool’s dominance in the region, and whether it can maintain its grip amid challenges from the BJP and Left-Congress alliance.
