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Phase four of polls will take place in 49 Assembly constituencies in two districts of West Bengal on April 25. Widely considered to be Trinamool Congress (TMC) strongholds, the ruling party won 43 of these 49 seats in 2011.
Over 1.82 crore voters will decide the fate of 345 candidates including at least seven Ministers and several senior leaders of the TMC across two districts, Howrah and North 24 Parganas.
Some of the heavyweights are State Finance Minister Amit Mitra, Food Minister Jyotipriya Mullick, Agriculture Minster Purnendu Bose, Irrigation Minister Rajib Banerjee, Law Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya, Tourism Minister Bratya Basu and Agri-Marketing Minister Arup Roy.
Other well-known candidates are Saradha scam-accused Madan Mitra, former Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta (who takes on Amit Mitra in Khardah) and the lone BJP MLA, Samik Bhattacharya (from Basirhat Dakshin).
Of the 49 constituencies, 33 are in the former Left stronghold of North 24 Parganas. The TMC won 28, while the Congress won one in 2011.
The Left Front had managed to win just four seats there, in what was once considered its citadel.
Incidentally, the Left was whitewashed in the 16 seats in Howrah — yet again considered to a Marxist stronghold — with the TMC winning 15, and the Congress one.
However, as per the results of the 2014 general election, the TMC is ahead in at least 40 of these seats.
Good run by BJPInterestingly, a good run by the BJP in many of these seats works to the advantage of TMC. “A vote division between BJP and the (Left) alliance is imminent. This will help us,” a TMC leader said.
The ruling party does have its share of problems. For one, the alleged involvement of some of its leaders in the Narada sting tapes is an issue. The other is allegations of senior leaders controlling syndicates (building material supply cartels) operative in areas like Rajarhat and Bidhannagar.
In Bidhannagar, the ruling party is clearly on the back foot. If the 2014 Lok Sabha numbers are an indication, the BJP led with 58,000 plus votes against, TMC’s 52,000.
True, the TMC managed to win the civic elections in Bidhannagar; but the allegations of violence and voter intimidation then has not gone down well with the locals.
The Left-Congress is eyeing upsets in some seats; and the BJP is looking for a good show in parts of Howrah and Basirhat.
But, as of now it looks advantage TMC.
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