West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee is relying on her trusted aides to campaign for her in her Bhabanipur constituency, even as she launches an offensive against her arch-rival Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) across the state, with a special focus on North Bengal where the latter is seen as stronger.
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The South Kolkata constituency, which goes to polls on April 29, is set to witness a tense battle with the BJP fielding Suvendu Adhikari to challenge the chief minister from Bhabanipur. Adhikari, who was once a trusted confidant of Banerjee, joined the BJP in December 2020 (before the 2021 Assembly elections) and defeated his former mentor from Nandigram in 2021. This was the only bright spot for the BJP which won 77 out of 294 seats in the state assembly, belying its performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections when it won 18 out of 294 seats in the state assembly. 42 seats. Sabha seats.
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“Banerjee will be absent from Kolkata for most of the next month as she will lead the party’s campaign across the state along with Abhishek Banerjee. Meanwhile, some veteran party leaders close to Banerjee will lead the campaign in Bhabanipur during her absence,” a senior TMC leader said.
Firhad Hakim, a cabinet minister and one of Banerjee’s trusted aides, campaigned at Sheetla in Bhabanipur on Monday and Tuesday. Hakim, who is also the mayor of Kolkata, is the ward councilor from Sheetla.
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“I am campaigning from Sheetla. I am just reminding people that Mamatadi is their daughter. People are with Mamatadi. We have already said that this time we will win from Bhabanipur with a margin of more than 60,000 votes. When we campaign in Bhabanipur, people are already saying that we don’t need to come and campaign like they are doing with Didi. We are just taking to the streets to exchange greetings with people,” he told reporters on Monday.
Senior TMC leaders aware of the developments told HT that apart from Hakim, other leaders like Arup Biswas, state minister and Subrata Bakshi, party president, will also campaign for Banerjee in Bhabanipur. In addition, there are eight district councilors and party stars who will be campaigning in the constituency.
Bhabanipur has been a TMC stronghold since 2011 and was represented by Banerjee in 2011 and 2016. She moved to Nandigram in 2021 and lost, though her party won from Bhabanipur. She won the October 2021 by-election (five months after the May 2021 Assembly election results were announced) by a record margin of 58,832 votes against her closest rival, Priyanka Tibrewal of the BJP.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, TMC’s Mala Roy won the South Kolkata parliamentary seat defeating BJP’s Debasree Chaudhary by a margin of 1,87,231 votes. In Bhabanipur, part of the South Kolkata parliamentary seat, Roy secured a lead of 8,207 votes.
“Everyone knows how the by-elections were conducted in 2021. After that the Lok Sabha polls were held. The margin of 58,000 votes is no longer there,” Adhikari told reporters on Monday. It’s already down to 8,000 votes. “Already 45,000 names have been dropped at breakfast and another 2,000 names have been dropped at lunch.” His reference to the meals was about the special intensive review of electoral rolls. The BJP has consistently maintained that the state rolls contain a lot of illegal voters, and that a clean electoral roll will lead to the defeat of the TMC.
So far, the revised list has excluded 6.18 million people, while the fate of another 6 million is still being decided. A supplementary list published on Monday excluded 2.9 million people (out of 6 million), but details of the number of exceptions were not available as of Tuesday evening.
Adhikari said he would win from Bhabanipur by a margin of 25,000 votes.
At least 46,812 names have been deleted from the electoral roll in Bhabanipur, Election Commission officials said. While 44,470 names were dropped in the draft list, another 2,342 names were dropped after being heard in the final list. 14,154 voter claims are still pending.
Although Banerjee is yet to hit the streets of Bhabanipur, Adhikari launched his campaign there from March 19, four days after the EC announced the election dates. Banerjee held a closed-door meeting with party leaders and workers in Bhabanipur on March 22.
“We obviously want Didi to win from Bhabanipur again. She has been with us all year. What is the BJP’s activity here? The TMC leaders, who were either dropped or betrayed the party, are now with the BJP. She will win easily,” said Sudeep Pal, a tea stall owner in Sheetla district.
“When it comes to choosing between Didi and Suvendu, we will always choose Didi,” said Raktima Das, a housewife.
