Siliguri: In the backdrop of the controversy over the ruling Trinamool Congress roping in Bangladeshi actors for campaigning, three northern West Bengal constituencies, including the keenly-watched Raiganj and Darjeeling, go to the hustings in round two of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections on Thursday.
Jalpaiguri, known for its lush green forests and tea gardens, completes the list of constituencies ready for elections on the morrow, as the Lok Sabha poll caravan climbs up the picturesque eastern Himalayas and then descends to the foothills christened dooars before going further down to the plains, exactly a week after the opening round saw stray violence and allegations of electoral malpractices in Cooch Behar and Alipurduar in the region.
A total of 49,32,346 voters are eligible to express their democratic choice across 5,390 polling stations to decide the fate of 42 candidates in multi-cornered fights mainly involving the Trinamool, BJP, CPI-M and Congress. The star constituency is the Muslim dominated Raiganj in North Dinajpur district, where sitting MP Mohammad Salim of the CPI-M is taking on former Union Minister and Congress nominee Deepa Dasmunsi, BJP state General Secretary.
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Debasree Chaudhuri and Trinamool candidate Kanaia Lal Agarwal. Ten other candidates, including five Independents, are also in the fray. Salim, who tops the list among state MPs in terms of MPLAD funds utilisation, said he was striving to keep the focus on development.
For Dasmunsi, it is a fight to retain the country’s secular character and pluralism by installing a Congress government. Trinamool’s Agarwal, in the eye of storm after Bangladeshi actor Ferdous Ahmed was seen campaigning for him, has denied any knowledge about the celebrity from the neighbouring nation having been invited to woo voters on his behalf.
In Darjeeling — famed for its tea, timber and tourism — BJP’s Raju Singh Bisht is taking on Trinamool’s Amar Singh Rai, Saman Pathak of the CPI-M and Congress’ Sankar Malakar. There are also seven candidates from other registered parties and five Independents in the fray.
The Darjeeling seat was won by the BJP in 2009 and 2014. Union Minister and sitting MP S.S. Ahluwalia has been fielded by the party from South Bengal’s Burdwan-Durgapur seat this time. Having witnessed the often violent agitation for a separate Gorkhaland state since the mid 1980s, this may be the first time in decades that none of the principal contestants are harping on the issue.
In Jalpaiguri, sitting MP Bijoy Chandra Barman is again contesting as a Trinamool candidate. Jayanta Kumar Ray, a medico, is the BJP candidate while the Congress has fielded tea workers’ leader Mani Kumar Darnal with the CPI(M) fielding Bhagirath Chandra Roy. Five candidates from other registered parties and three Independents too are in the fray.
