Kolkata: Will Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) make a dent in Trinamool Congress (TMC) citadel in Ballygunge, one of the Assembly constituencies in south Kolkata?
Ballygunge Assembly constituency is considered to be the stronghold of TMC due to the party's deceased legislator Subrata Mukherjee.
Mukherjee won by 75,359 votes in 2021
In 2021 Late Subrata Mukherjee won the seat with a large margin, defeating BJP candidate Lokenath Chatterjee by 75,359 votes.
Notably, Mukherjee had won the Ballygunge constituency for three consecutive terms in 2011, 2016 and 2021. His victory margins varied from 41,185 votes in 2011 to 15,225 votes in 2016.
Babul Supriyo won 2022 bypoll for TMC
After his death, in 2022 bypoll former BJP MP Babul Supriyo contested this seat in TMC’s ticket and won the seat and defeated CPI(M) candidate Saira Shah Halim by a margin of 20,228 votes.
In 2006 for the first time TMC’s Javed Ahmed Khan had won the seat by defeating CPI(M)’s Rabin Deb by 6,451 votes. Before TMC, Ballygunge was considered to be a strong citadel of the CPI (M) from 1977 to 2001.
Shobhandeb vs Shatorupa this time
This time veteran TMC leader Shobhandeb Chattopadhyay is contesting in this seat against BJP’s Shatorupa.
Chattopadhyay in 2021 had won the Bhabanipore constituency but had to vacate it for TMC Supremo Mamata Banerjee after she lost in Nandigram against Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari.
BJP candidate claims 'unexpected welcome'
Chattopadhyay after vacating Bhabanipore seat had contested from Khardah and won that seat.
Talking to Free Press Journal, though Chattopadhyay and his followers are ‘confident’ about winning this seat back, the saffron camp candidate and her followers mentioned ‘unexpected’ welcome by the people of that constituency.
“The welcome is overwhelming. We had never expected that people on their own will come out in our rallies and roadshows and will shower their love and affection to BJP. The chant of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ is echoing in every corner of Ballygunge. This time BJP will win Ballygunge,” said Shatorupa, BJP candidate.
Urban middle-class voters in focus
Ballygunge is known for the urban voters and the saffron camp is aiming to appeal to urban middle-class voters.
Apart from TMC and BJP, other candidates include Rohan Mitra from the Congress, Afreen Begum from CPI(M).
Afreen Begum, the youngest candidate contesting from that constituency is also ‘confident’ about making Ballygunge once again a Left bastion.
Incidentally, in south Kolkata around 36% of voters (28,468 out of 78,657 voters) under adjudication were found ineligible.
Ballygunge is preparing to go for the polls in the second phase of the election on April 29 and the result of whether TMC manages to keep the constituency with themselves or whether BJP won Ballygunge will be known on May 4.
