The campaign for the seven-phase Lok Sabha election came to an end this afternoon.
Elections in seven seats in Bengal, namely, Dum Dum, Kolkata North, Kolkata South, Barasat, Basirhat, Jadavpur, Mathurapur, Joynagar and Diamond Harbour will be held on 1 June.
The first phase of election started on 19 April in north Bengal when votes were held in Cooch Behar, Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri. This was followed by the second phase, held in Darjeeling, Raiganj and Balurghat. On 7 May, the third phase of polling was held at Malda South, Malda North, Jangipur and Murshidabad. The fourth phase of election was held in Baharampur, Nadia, Ranaghat, Bolpur, Birbhum, Asansol, Bardhaman Purba and Bardhaman- Durgapur on 13 May. The fifth phase of election was held in Bongaon, Barrackpore, Hooghly, Srirampur, Arambag, Uluberia and Howrah on 20 May, while polling was held in Purulia, Bankura, Bishnupur, Jhargram, Tamluk, Kanthi, Ghatal and Medinipur was held on 25 May.
The last phase of election is held in areas which are said to be Trinamul’s stronghold. Trinamul’s sole purpose will be to increase the margin of the candidates.
In Dum Dum, Saugata Roy is contesting for the third consecutive time. In Barasat, Dr Kaloli Ghosh Dastidar is contesting for the fourth consecutive time.
In Basirhat, Trinamul Congress has fielded Hazi Nurul Islam replacing the sitting MP Nusrut Jahan. Sandeshkhali is a part of Basirhat seat. The BJP has fielded Rekha Patra, who is reportedly one of victims of abuse by Trinamul leaders of the area. However, later a video clip had exposed the BJP leaders who alleged that the women had not been abused and the BJP had engineered the whole game plan.
In Kolkata North, Trinamul Congress has fielded Sudip Bandyopadhyay, the sitting MP. The BJP has fielded Tapas Roy, who recently joined the saffron party from the Trinamul and Congress’s candidate is Pradip Bhattacharya.
In Jadavpur Trinamul has fielded Saayoni Ghosh, party’s youth congress president. BJP and CPM have fielded Anirban Ganguly and Srijan Bhattacharya respectively. Trinamul Congress has replaced the sitting MP Mimi Chakraborty.
In Mathurapur and Joynagar, Trinamul has fielded Bapi Halder and Pratima Mondol, the sitting MP for the second time.
In Diamond Harbour, Trinamul’s nominee is party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, the two-time sitting MP.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, J P Nadda, Yogi Adityanath and other senior BJP leaders took part in road shows and addressed rallies.
Political experts felt that six states, which include Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Karnataka, Bengal and Haryana will play crucial roles in the ensuing general election. Mamata Banerjee left no stone unturned to increase Trinamul’s seat. She and Abhishek Banerjee went to all the 42 seats at least twice and addressed public meetings and took part in road shows. BJP had got 18 seats in 2019 Lok Sabha election while Trinamul Congress got 24 seats and Congress got two seats.