Trinamul Congress Ketugram constituency candidate Sheikh Shahnawaz, two-time MLA, has an onerous task as he is battling against Mathura Ghosh, the BJP candidate. The Ketugram block consists of 47 per cent minority voters with about 32 per cent in its neighbouring Ketugram-II block.
Shahnawaz was entangled in an intra-party rivalry allegedly due to hegemony of party’s observer Anubrata Mondal. Ketugram, for the past 20 years, has been ruled by gunpower and shootouts resulting in as many as 60 political murders over the period.
“Ten years back, a murder in a week or month was not so shocking, which we have managed to overcome. Now people can roam freely,” Shahnawaz claimed. Ghosh’s family once had suffered police atrocities during the Left Front regime and he said: “Now, we are forced to adjust with TMC’s high-handedness here.”
He claimed that people are enthusiastic to oust Sheikh although none of BJP’s top leaders have campaigned for him. Shahnawaz considers the CPI-M’s Mizanur Kabir as his close contestant who said, “In just one block the BJP has a presence, I’m struggling against Sheikh in rest of the places.”
In Ausgram, CPI-M’s Basudeb Mete won in 2011 and five years later he was defeated by Anubrata’s aide, TMC’s Abhedananda Thandar who has been given the ticket his time. He is struggling hard to take on Kalita Majhi, a domestic maid fielded by the BJP. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah has repeatedly referred to her, sending a message to the toiling populace.
Majhi said, “I’ve no idea what would happen but I’m acting as per the direction of the party leaders”. Thandar said: “CPI-M still is my rival in this seat.” CPIM has fielded Chanchal Maji, a new face this time. In Bhatar all the key candidates are new faces.
TMC has fielded Mangobinda Adhikari against CPI-M’s Nazrul Haque and Mahendra Konar is the BJP contestant. The seat had elected TMC’s Banamali Hazra in 2011 and Subhas Mondal in 2016. “Why they are dropped is a mystery. In 2019 election too, we were much ahead of BJP here,” said Mondal.
In Galsi, the BJP has replaced Tapan Bagdi with a schoolteacher Bikash Biswas. This seat has seen frequent shifting of elected MLA Sunil Mondal from AIFB to TMC to BJP. Inexplicably, its sitting MLA Aloke Majhi has too been shifted to Jamalpur constituency. “Shifting locations and colour of our elected leaders is common and has left the voters in jeopardy,” said Swapan Dhar, a businessman.