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Left, Cong candidates trail in most seats; Congress loses stronghold Sujapur in Malda
The TMC was leading on 201 out of 287 seats, BJP on 82, and Congress one, according to the Election Commission website at 3pm
As the Trinamool Congress (TMC) appears set to return to power in West Bengal and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerging as the main opposition party, the candidates of Left parties and Congress were trailing far behind the main contenders.
The TMC was leading on 201 out of 287 seats, BJP on 82, and Congress one, according to the Election Commission website at 3pm.
In Raidighi (South 24 Parganas district), Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPIM (M), veteran Kanti Ganguly, who was a minister during the 34-year Left Front rule in the state, was trailing far behind the TMC.
Sujan Chakraborty (Jadavpur) and politburo member Md Salim were among other prominent CPI (M) candidates, who were trailing. Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union president Aishe Ghosh, who contested from at Jamuria in West Burdwan district, was also trailing.
In Malda and Murshidabad districts, which used to be its strongholds, Congress candidates trailed in all the seats. Successors of popular Congress leader A B A Ghani Khan Choudhury appeared to be losing ground in Malda. At Sujapur, where 90% of residents are Muslims, his nephew, Isha Khan Choudhury, the outgoing legislator, was trailing behind TMC’s Abdul Gani.
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Mausam Noor, Isha Khan Choudhury’s cousin, campaigned for Gani. “[Chief Minister] Mamata Banerjee put her faith in me. The Congress did nothing for the constituency,” said Gani.
In Murshidabad, Congress was supposed to be the main contender. It is also the home district of state Congress president and Lok Sabha member Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.
In Murshidabad, three-time Congress lawmaker Manoj Chakraborty was trailing in Berhampore against TMC’s Narugopal Mukherjee. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, TMC was ahead of the BJP in 18 of the 22 assembly segments in Murshidabad. Berhampore was one of the exceptions.
In Murshidabad, Pradip Kumar Nandi, the Revolutionary Socialist Party candidate from Jangipur, and Rezaul Haque, the Congress candidate from Samserganj, died of Covid-19 this month. Polls were to be held in these constituencies on Monday. But the Election Commission rescheduled them to May 16.
In Hooghly district, four-time lawmaker Abdul Mannan (Congress), the leader of the opposition in the outgoing assembly, was trailing at Champdani. Mannan has won the seat four times since 1991.
