The people of Bengal are likely to witness an interesting electoral battle in the 6th phase of general election which is scheduled to be held on 25 May.
Elections in eight constituencies will be held on Saturday. There will be a by-election in the Baranagar Assembly seat on 25 May. The seat fell vacant after Tapas Roy, the sitting MLA joined the BJP and is fighting against Sudip Bandyopadhyay from north Kolkata Lok Sabha seat. Trnamul’s candidate for Baranagar by election is Sayantika Banerjee while BJP has fielded Sajal Ghosh and CPM’s nominee is Tanmay Bhattacharya.
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There are four seats in Junglemahal namely, Purulia, Bankura, Bishnupur and Jhargram. Two seats in east Midnapore, namely, Kanthi and Tamluk and two seats in West Midnapore, namely Ghatal and Midnapore.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha election all seats in Junglemahal went to the BJP. Trinamul had won the seats in Tamluk and Kanthi but later the MPs, namely, Sisir Adhikari and his son Dibyendu joined the BJP. Midnapore went to the BJP and Trinamul had won the Ghatal seat. So, as on today, Trinamul has only one seat out of eight seats under its control.
The most interesting electoral battle will be held in Tamluk. In an unprecedented incident, Justice Abhijit Ganguly of Calcutta High Court retired and joined the BJP. He is the nominee of the saffron party. Trinamul Congress has fielded Debangshu Bhattacharya and CPM’s nominee is Sayan Banerjee.
Tamluk is believed to be the fiefdom of the Adhikari family. Nandigram Assembly seat falls under this constituency where Suvendu Adhikari defeated Mamata Banerjee in the 2021 Assembly election.
Trinamul Congress has taken up the battle as a prestige fight and Debangshu Bhattacharya is leaving no stone unturned to win the seat. The seat is going to witness an interesting battle. Trinamul has fielded Uttam Barik in Kanthi against Soumendu Adhikari of BJP.
In Ghatal, it is a fight between two actors. The two-time sitting Trinamul MP Dipak Adhikari alias Dev is pitted against actor Hiran Chatterjee of BJP.
In Midnapore, the sitting MP Dilip Ghosh has been shifted to Burdwan Durgapur seat. Fashion designer and politician Agnimitra Paul of BJP is fighting against June Malliah of Trinamul Congress. Both the candidates are MLAs from their respective parties.
In Junglemahal all the seats went to the BJP in 2019. However, over the years, the situation has changed. The sitting BJP MP from Jhargram has recently joined Trinamul Congress.
In Purulia, Trinamul has fielded Shantiram Mahato, who was the state minister for paschimanchal unnayan department. Shantiram Mahato is the son of illustrious Congress leader Sitaram Mahato, who was an undisputed leader of the area for decades.
In Bankura Trinamul Congress has fielded Arup Chakraborty against the sitting BJP MP Dr Subhas Sarkar. In Jhargram , Trinamul’s nominee is Kalipada Soren. Soumitra Khan of the BJP is fighting Trinamul Congress’ Sujata Mondal, who was his former wife.
The voting will start at 7am and continue till 5pm.
