These four seats are Purulia, Jhargram, Midnapore and Bankura. A large chunk of voters in these four seats are from the Kurmi community.
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Ajit Prasad Mahato, the mul manta (supreme leader) of the Adivasi Kurmi Samaj will contest from the Purulia Lok Sabha seat, from where BJP’s Kurmi leader and sitting MP Jyotirmoy Singh Mahato is seeking re-election and is pitted against another kurmi leader and former state minister, Shantiram Mahato of the Trinamul Congress.
After a high-level meeting of the state committee of Adivasi Kurmi Samaj at bandwan in Purulia district it has been finalised that the party will contest in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in four seats of South Bengal.
These four seats are Purulia, Jhargram, Midnapore and Bankura. A large chunk of voters in these four seats are from the Kurmi community.
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In the past one year, the adivasi kurmi samaj has agitated on several issues, including rail roko, chakka jam etc in Junglemahal areas.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has announced several projects recently to woo these vast Kurmi vote banks. Kurmi Academy and Kurmi Bhawan have been set up by the state government.
Since the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, these four seats have become a stronghold of the BJP and the TMC is trying hard to wrest all these seats in South Bengal. In the 2021 Assembly polls too, the TMC suffered losses in these seats.
At this juncture, the announcement of the Adivasi Kurmi Samaj to field its own candidates in Purulia, Bankura, Jhargram and Midnapore have created a stir in political circles.
While the name of the Purulia candidate has already been announced, the names of candidates for the other three seats – Jhargram, Midnapore and Bankura will be announced shortly, party sources said.
There is a chance of change in political equations in all the four seats, where the majority is Kurmi voters and the announcement of its own candidates have put spanner in both the BJP and TMC plans.
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