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TMC eyes Samserganj seat in Murshidabad amid Congress-Left differences
Samserganj could not go to polls on April 26 -- when the seventh of the eight-phase election in Bengal was held -- because Rezaul Haque, the Congress candidate died of Covid-19 in early April.
Born during delimitation on the eve of the 2011 Bengal assembly polls in which Mamata Banerjee ousted the Left Front, the Samsergunj assembly seat in Murshidabad district was carved out of the old Aurangabad segment where the Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) had a strong base.
CPI (M)’s Touab Ali, who won the Aurangabad seat thrice since 1987, retained Samserganj in 2011 despite a Trinamool Congress (TMC) onslaught.
TMC’s Amirul Islam, who managed to defeat Ali in the 2016 polls by around 2000 votes, will face the contest again on Thursday.
Samserganj could not go to polls on April 26 -- when the seventh of the eight-phase election in Bengal was held -- because Rezaul Haque, the Congress candidate died of Covid-19 in early April.
In Murshidabad, the Muslim population (66.28%) is the highest among all districts in Bengal. There are 2,37,750 voters in Samserganj and the Election Commission has installed security cameras in half of the 329 polling booths. Nineteen companies of the Central Armed Police Forces have been deployed.
At Samserganj, which comprises the Dhulian municipality and eight panchayat areas, the TMC is in an advantageous position because the Congress has fielded Jaidur Rahaman against the CPI(M)’s Md Modassar Hossain although the two parties contested the March-April polls as allies. This is in sharp contrast to the district’s Jangipur seat -- which also goes to polls on Thursday -- where the Congress has allowed the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) to contest.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded Milan Ghosh, a debutant.
Jaidur Rahaman initially backed out from the race because he is the brother of Khalilur Rahaman, the TMC Lok Sabha member from Jangipur which was earlier held by former President of India Pranab Mukherjee and his son, Abhijit, who joined the TMC in July.
“My family does not want me to contest,” Jaidur Rahaman said in July. However, he started campaigning about 10 days ago.
“We are confident of winning the seat,” said Sahidul Sheikh, the community block unit president of the Congress.
TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee campaigned at Samserganj on September 23 and targeted the Congress. “Only Mamata Banerjee can combat the BJP,” he said.
State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who represents the Berhampore Lok Sabha seat in Murshidabad, has also campaigned in this constituency.
