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Heavy rain poses challenge for CM Mamata, BJP on eve of polls in 3 Bengal seats
Mamata Banerjee , who was defeated by BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari at Nandigram in the March-April polls and needs to win Thursday’s election to continue as chief minister, expressed fear of low turnout while addressing her first campaign meeting on September 22.
As rainfall triggered by a low depression lashed Kolkata and parts of Bengal on the eve of Thursday’s bypoll at Bhawanipore in the state capital and elections at two seats in Murshidabad district, the fear of low voter turnout became a cause for concern among Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders.
At Bhawanipore in south Kolkata, where chief minister Mamata Banerjee is pitted against BJP’s Priyanka Tibrewal in her old seat, TMC councillors of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), were found making all efforts to pump out water from the streets on Wednesday.
“One cannot take chances because turnout is always low during repolls,” one of them said on condition of anonymity.
Banerjee, who was defeated by BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari at Nandigram in the March-April polls and needs to win Thursday’s election to continue as chief minister, expressed fear of low turnout while addressing her first campaign meeting on September 22. By then, the weather office had predicted the arrival of Cyclone Gulab, which eventually moved towards southern India.
“Cast your vote even if it rains. I will suffer if I don’t get even one vote. Don’t be complacent and assume that my victory is ensured. If I do not win, someone else (from the TMC) will become chief minister since we are in the majority,” Banerjee said at the meeting in Ekbalpore, an area with a sizeable Muslim population.
BJP leaders, too, said high turnout in earlier elections had increased the saffron camp’s vote share. “In the polls held on April 26, the turnout was 61.79% and we got 35.16% votes,” said BJP leader Shishir Bajoria. TMC’s Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, who won the seat, vacated it so that Banerjee could contest again.
Bhawanipore has 2,06,389 voters. According to TMC and BJP leaders, more than 20% residents are Muslims while Sikhs and non-Bengali Hindus comprise around 34% of the local population.
The Congress is not contesting the seat as its electoral ally, the CPI (M), has fielded Srijib Biswas, who is a Calcutta high court lawyer like Tibrewal. Incidentally, the chief minister, too, had studied law.
“Rain or no rain, Mamata Banerjee’s victory is certain,” said TMC Lok Sabha member Saugata Roy.
Extensive security arrangements have been made at Bhawanipore in view of the demonstration TMC workers held on September 27 around BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh, prompting his security personnel to draw their pistols in the middle of a campaign procession.
Officials said 35 companies of Central Armed Police Force and a huge Kolkata Police contingent headed by around 30 Indian Police Service (IPS) officers will be deployed in Bhawanipore on Thursday.
In Murshidabad, the Muslim population (66.28%) is the highest among all districts in Bengal.
With 2,55,998 voters, Jangipur did not witness an election on April 26 as Pradip Kumar Nandi, the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) candidate, died of Covid-19.
Jakir Hossain, the state’s former deputy labour minister who bagged the seat in 2016, has been fielded by the TMC against the BJP’s Sujit Das and the RSP’s Jane Alam Mian.
The Congress has left this assembly segment for the RSP as part of the alliance that Congress, the Left parties and Indian Secular Front, a new outfit, inked before the eight-phase polls.
Samserganj could not go to the polls because Rezaul Haque, the Congress candidate, died of Covid-19 in early April.
TMC’s Amirul Islam, who won the seat in 2016, is apparently in an advantageous position because the local Congress unit has ignored the alliance by fielding Jaidur Rahaman against the CPI (M)’s Md Modassar Hossain.
Rahaman initially backed out from the race because he is the brother of Khalilur Rahaman, the TMC Lok Sabha member from Jangipur, but started campaigning 10 days ago.
The BJP has fielded Milan Ghosh, a debutant.
There are 2,37,750 voters in Samserganj. The Election Commission has deployed 19 companies of Central Armed Police Force.
