Curtains are poised to be rung down tomorrow on the longdrawn-out electoral exercise in Bengal, held amidst a raging second wave of the Covid19 pandemic, with the eighth and final phase of the Assembly election taking place in 35 constituencies in Kolkata North, parts of Malda, Murshidabad and Birbhum.

In this last phase, the spotlight which ought to have been focussed on contestants has been turned towards Trinamul Congress strongman Anubrata Mondal, a key player in the poll battle, but not as a candidate. Known for his fiery speeches, Mondal, the TMC’s  district president of Birbhum has been put under surveillance from 5.00 p.m of 27 April to 7.00 p.m on 30 April.

This is the third time he is being singled out for such curbs but he appears to be unfazed. Both TMC and BJP are eyeing a toehold in one-time Congress bastions of Malda and Murshidabad. In Murshidabad, PCC chief and Behrampore MP, Adhir Ranjan.

Chowdhury being in home isolation will make it a difficult poll battle for his followers waging what is virtually a struggle for political existence. Apart from some heavyweight ministers, several veteran Congress leaders are also in this poll fray from Malda and Murshidabad.

The state agriculture minister Ashish Banerjee is contesting from Rampurhat, state fisheries minister Chandranath Sinha from Bolpur while state women and child empowerment minister Sashi Panja is contesting from Shyampukur and consumer affairs minister Sadhan Pandey is contesting from Maniktala.  Pandey faces Kalyan Choubey of the BJP and former CPI-M MLA Rupa Bagchi.

Veteran Congress leader Santosh Pathak is contesting from Chowringhee against Trinamul’s Nayana Bandopadhayay. There are two changes in Jorasanko and Cossipore-Belgachhia seats for the TMC where sitting MLAs Smita Bakshi and Mala Saha have not been fielded. Former Trinamul Rajya Sabha MP and presently its Hindi cell chairman Vivek Gupta is contesting from Jorasanko in place of Smita Bakshi. In Cossipore-Belgachhia, TMC is represented by Atin Ghosh, former Member-Mayor-in-Council in Kolkata Municipal Corporation who is contesting instead of Mala Saha.

Former deputy mayor, BJP’s Meena Devi Purohit is also contesting from Jorasanko.  Shivaji Singh Roy of BJP is contesting against Ghosh. In English Bazar, veteran Trinamul leader Krishnendu Narayan Chowdhury is pitted against BJP’s Sreerupa Mitra Chowdhury.

Veteran Congress leader Abu Hasem Khan Chowdhury’s son Isha Khan Chowdhury is contesting from Sujapur, Sabina Yasmin who defected to the Trinamul is contesting from Mothabari and veteran BJP leader Sadhin Kumar Sarkar is contesting from Baisnabnagar in Malda. Congress district president Manoj Chakroborty is contesting from Beherampore.

Among Congress leaders who defected to Trinamul are Ashish Marjit, seeking the public mandate from Khargram, Humayun Kabir, contesting from Bharatpur and Rabiul Alam Chowdhury, fielded from Rejinagar. Moinuddin Shams, who once belonged to Forward Bloc and became MLA from Nalhati as a TMC nominee was denied ticket this time.

He has returned to the Forward Bloc and is contesting from Nalhati again. Manirul Islam who defected to Trinamul from the Forward Bloc and then switched loyality to the BJP has been denied nomination this time. But unlike Shams, he is contesting as an Independent candidate from his old constituency, Labhpur. and the votes polled by him may make the difference between victory or defeat for the Trinamul and BJP candidates.