Grabbing Lok Sabha bite from his lunch box, Sujit Mondal, an auto driver in Jadavpur hurriedly took charge of his auto-rickshaw. He was in a rush to catch glimpses of the celebrity candidate who has been fielded from his Lok Sabha seat. A staunch supporter of the ruling party, Mondal was confident of the repetition of 2019 Lok Sabha poll results in Jadavpur which is headed for general elections on 1 June.

Mondal’s opinion was echoed by Bhaskar Das, owner of a general store in Baghajatin. “In West Bengal, there’s no alternative to TMC,” claimed Das. “Saayoni Ghosh didi has campaigned intensely reaching almost every household and hence I feel she would prove to be the right choice of the voters,” he added. Asked if he had any reservations about his choicest candidate’s availability in needs, he remarked, “She has been actively involved with masses working at ground level with people. I have full faith that she will prove herself as an MP as well.”

However, unlike the auto driver, Sujit Mondal, electorate like Srijita Saha, a private school teacher, are looking up to someone more accessible. “It is going to be a tough fight this time. We have seen difficult times during the Covid outbreak or even in the aftermath of Amphan when we needed help badly. Therefore, as an ordinary citizen, I would prefer someone who could be accessible during our needs,” said the woman electorate who felt CPM has fielded a better candidate this time and has decided to vote for him.

Considered as the most prestigious Lok Sabha seat that has had several heavyweights, including Left veteran and former speaker Somnath Chatterjee and chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Jadavpur parliamentary constituency includes seven assembly constituencies containing mixed bags of urban-rural and rich-poor populations. If history is given a closer look, the debutante from Jadavpur seems to be blessed with the beginner’s luck. Contesting her first election as a Congress candidate Mamata Banerjee was a slip of a girl in 1984 when she took on formidable CPM nominee Somnath Chatterjee and defeated him. With similar luck, TMC candidates Krishna Bose, Kabir Suman and Sugato Bose tasted victory from Jadavpur on their first appearances.

Known as the Left’s bastion for decades, the seat has been won by TMC since 2009. The ruling party has fielded fresh faces each poll including celebrities without giving a second chance to anyone. In the last Lok Sabha polls, TMC’s Mimi Chakraborty had won the seat bagging 6,88,472, which was 47.9 per cent of the total votes. The Bharatiya Janata Party emerged second securing 3,93,233 votes with the CPM running up to the third position.

Sticking to the strategy, the TMC has fielded another celebrity face Saayoni Ghosh this election, who is not a political debutant like her immediate predecessor. Determined to walk on the path of revival with inclusion of fresh and young blood in the party, the Left has fielded Srijan Bhattacharya, who is also the candidate from INDI alliance. The BJP has declared its national executive committee member Anirban Ganguly, who has been associated with popularising the legacy of Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee, on new research on his life and times and in widely disseminating the new findings.

Interestingly, both TMC’s Saayoni Ghosh Ghosh and CPM’s Srijan Bhattacharya have already tested the waters of electoral politics. While Ghosh lost in Asansol, Bhattacharya tasted defeat at Singur in the 2021 elections.

If the TMC, BJP and INDIA bloc-supported CPM candidates make the contest triangular, the bone in the throat in the form of the Indian Secular Front nominee Nur Alam Khan is to add further competition in the Red-turned-green bastion.

With a high level academic activities, student unions and the academic excellence of many students, Jadavpur University is a nerve centre of this constituency. The candidates, having connect with it, would be at an advantage. However, unlike Ganguly, both Saayoni Ghosh and Srijan are connected to this university. While Saayoni Ghosh left her graduation course in comparative literature to devote more time to her film career, Srijan, a post graduate in history, was a leader of the students’ wing of his party.

While the TMC candidate was seen stressing on women empowerment wanting to raise concerns on the issue of ‘Bengal being deprived’ at the Parliament, among the main agenda that the candidates of the opposition were found echoing are enhanced transport facility, better healthcare and education system for the constituency. “The Metro connectivity till Baruipur and Sonarpur has been pending since nobody took it up. Another area of focus would be the completion of ‘Jal Jeevan Mission’ and more state general hospitals in the constituency,” informed BJP’s Anirban Ganguly. While Left’s Srijan wants to work on the issue of unemployment among the youth, ISF’s Nur Alam Khan has plans of enhancing rail connectivity in the suburban pockets of the constituency.