The fates of 47 candidates, including two sitting BJP MPs — Sukanta Majumdar the State BJP president, his Darjeeling counterpart Raju Bista — will be decided even as three North Bengal constituencies of Darjeeling, Balurghat and Raiganj go to second phase polling on Friday.
In order to conduct free, fair and peaceful polling the Election Commission of India has deployed 272 companies of Central forces out of which 111 would be posted at Raiganj, once a Congress stronghold sending the then Union Minister PR Dasmunshi to Parliament.
Usually considered to be a violence-prone district, Raiganj has 418 sensitive booths most of which are around Goalpokhar, Chakulia and Dalkhola bordering Bihar. The area witnessed massive violence in last year's panchayat elections when two persons were killed in political clashes.
BJP has fielded Kartick Paul replacing former Union Minister and sitting MP Debashree Chowdhury — who has been shifted to Kolkata South seat — from Raiganj. Paul is facing Trinamool Congress' Krishna Kalyani — who has a dubious record of shuttling between the TMC and the BJP — and comparatively stronger Congress candidate Ali Imran Ramz backed by the Left. A former MLA Ramz joined the Congress from his old party Forward Bloc. There are twenty candidates including one woman in Raiganj.
Neighbouring Balurghat seat has been a traditional RSP stronghold which slipped into the hands of the TMC in 2009 before being wrested by BJP's Sukanta Majumdar in 2019 by more than 30 thousand votes. Majumdar faces a tough challenge from State minister Biplab Mitra who too had shuttled between BJP and TMC. The RSP backed by the Congress has fielded Joydeb Siddhanta.
Cut to cooler climes at Queen of Hills, Darjeeling where BJP's Raju Bishta is facing TMC's Gopal Lama and Congress' Munish Tamang who is being supported apart from the Left and CPRM Humro Party chief Ajoy Edward.
While Bishta faces challenge from his own party MLA Bishnu Prasad Sharma who is contesting as an Independent after the BJP refused to field him as a Bhumiputra he has the support of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (Gurung) and JKLF. The TMC is backed by the Benay Tamang faction of the GJM which is presently ruling the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration.
The number of sensitive booths at Darjeeling is 308 out of which most are in the plains of Siliguri, sources say. According to ECI sources 88 companies of CAPF have been deployed in Darjeeling which 73 companies have been sent to Blurghat. Apart from this 12,983 State police personnel will also be deployed by the Commission.
On the possibilities of the parties winning the seats local sources said while in Raiganj all the three groups were equally placed at Darjeeling and Balurghat the BJP was a tad ahead with the TMC next in tow.
