Abevy of high-profile candidates, from ministers to actors, will test their luck at the hustings tomorrow as seven Lok Sabha constituencies in the southern part of West Bengal go for polls in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
The prominent candidates include Union Minister Shantanu Thakur from Bangaon, BJP’s tough-man Arjun Singh from Barrackpore and two actor-turned-politicians Locket Chatterjee of BJP and Rachana Banerjee of Trinamul Congress, who are contesting against each other from Hooghly. The seven Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal that are going to polls on 20 May include Hooghly, Arambagh and Serampore in Hooghly district, Barrackpore and Bangaon in North 24-Parganas district and Howrah and Uluberia in Howrah district.
A total of 1,25,23,702 voters ~ 63,51,320 men, 61,72,034 women and 348 third-genders ~ are eligible to exercise their franchise in 13,481 polling stations across the seven constituencies. Of the 88 candidates in these seven Lok Sabha constituencies, the maximum number is from Bangaon at 15, followed by Barrackpore and Howrah at 14 each, Uluberia and Hooghly at 12 each, Serampore at 11 and Arambagh at 10. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, BJP candidates got elected from Hooghly, Barrackpore and Bangaon, while Trinamul Congress candidates won in the remaining four. In Barrackpore, BJP candidate Arjun Singh is up against Partha Bhowmick of TMC and Debdut Ghosh from the CPI-M who enjoys the support of Congress. After a denial of nomination by the ruling TMC, Singh moved to the BJP five years ago, where he secured victory in the 2019 elections.
Interestingly, he later returned to TMC within three years. In 2019, he won against Dinesh Trivedi. Geographically, Barrackpore stretches from North 24-Parganas district to the northern limits of Kolkata. Historically known for its manufacturing prowess, Barrackpore was home to numerous jute and textile mills, and other industrial establishments such as the Ishapore Metal & Steel Factory, which bolstered the local economy. This time the BJP is confident of snatching the Arambagh constituency from Trinamul Congress where the winning margin of the ruling party candidate in 2019 was a little over 1,000 votes, in addition to retaining the three they won in 2019. As part of the Congress-Left Front alliance in West Bengal this time, Congress is contesting from Uluberia and Bangaon, while CPI-M has fielded candidates from the remaining five.
Over 57 per cent of the booths in these seven Lok Sabha constituencies have been identified as sensitive as against a little over 23 per cent for eight constituencies that went to the polls in the fourth phase on 13 May. In this phase, Hooghly has the highest number of sensitive booths at 87 per cent followed by Arambagh at 85 per cent. Barrackpore has the third highest number of sensitive booths at 67 per cent, followed by Serampore at 60 per cent. Considering the higher number of sensitive booths, the Election Commission has decided to increase the Central Armed Forces deployment by around 32 per cent over the deployment in the fourth phase.