West Bengal Election 2021: At 11 am, 36 Maharani Indira Debi Road is bustling with individuals – whereas somebody is managing cellphone calls from occasion employees, others are busy making ready for the day’s marketing campaign and ensuring the automobiles are match for arduous canvassing. Once, the town was just about run from this tackle, now the battle from right here is to regain misplaced glory.
The noteworthy home within the middle-class locality of Parnasree Pally in south Kolkata is the residence of Ratna Chatterjee, the Trinamool Congress candidate from Behala Purba, who’s preventing her first election, in the course of a bitter separation from her husband Sovan Chatterjee, the previous mayor of Kolkata and sitting MLA from the seat who joined the BJP in late 2019.
“Since childhood, I have seen a lot of elections. First, it was my parents and then my husband. So, this is not new for me. However, this is my first election as a candidate so there is a bit of excitement. (CM) Mamata Banerjee has worked a lot for the people so as a TMC candidate, I don’t have much pressure in reaching out to the people,” Ratna informed PTI.
Sovan stop the BJP alongside along with his buddy Baishakhi Banerjee after they had been denied nominations by the opposition occasion. Besides, being a mayor, he received the seat for 2 consecutive phrases — 2011 and 2016. He needed to contest this time too from the constituency, however the BJP selected to area actor Payel Sarkar.
“The party, not the candidate, is more important. But yes, if Sovan had been fielded by the BJP, family issues would have been raked up in public domain. I have been saved of that,” Ratna, 49, mentioned.
“However, it is a fact that if he had fought the election, I don’t know how his campaign would have been but the people of Behala Purba would have been unhappy. Firstly, because he has been missing from public life for three years and secondly, he wouldn’t have campaigned alone. He is roaming around with another woman when he has a wife at home, that is not Bengali culture,” she mentioned, referring to Baisakhi.
Announcing Ratna’s identify for the elections, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had mentioned, “Ratna Chatterjee, for women’s safety.”
In his resignation letter, Sovan mentioned he felt humiliated that BJP determined to not give him a ticket from Behala Purba and as a substitute area him from Behala Paschim. Besides, the choice to not give a ticket to his buddy Baishakhi was an added explanation for unhappiness with the saffron occasion.
Sovan, a robust minister with a slew of portfolios within the Mamata Banerjee authorities stop the TMC, amid a pressure in his conjugal relationship over his “friendship” with Baishakhi. BJP’s Payel too mentioned individuals don’t care about candidates, however vote on the premise of occasion guarantees and previous file.
Payel, 39, who has starred in in style Bengali hits corresponding to ‘Bojhena Se Bojhena’ and ‘Prem Amar’, now begins her day at 7 am within the morning, campaigning exhausting by way of the lanes and by-lanes of the constituency, which stretches from New Alipore to Joka, dwelling to IIM, Calcutta.
“57% of voters in my constituency are women and I am banking on them… I appeal to people to come to polling stations and cast votes. Security forces are deployed. I think everything will go very peacefully today,” Payel informed reporters on Saturday morning.
“I was always interested in politics. Since 2014, I have been following Prime Minister Narendra Modi very closely and the kind of work the BJP has done in other states. This has been very inspiring,” she mentioned whereas taking a break after the morning marketing campaign at her election workplace — a rented wedding ceremony corridor off James Long Sarani in Manton earlier.
Brushing apart criticism that celebrities go lacking from public life as soon as elections are over, Payel mentioned it was a fallacious notion. TMC received the seat in 2016 time by bagging round 47 per cent votes, whereas a Left-supported Independent candidate had 36 per cent of vote share. BJP got here third with round 10 per cent.
However, the situation modified within the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Even although the Trinamool Congress led with 43.32 per cent votes in Behala Purba, the BJP got here second with 35.63 per cent votes. The CPI(M) was a distant third with 15.90 per cent. The seat has a complete of three.07 lakh voters.
CPI(M) candidate Samita Har Chowdhury, 52, mentioned she was assured her occasion would be capable to regain its vote base. “You have to understand that Lok Sabha is different from an assembly election. People were voting for a government at the Centre and we, the Left, could not provide an alternative there. So, they left us. But, on the campaign trail we are now witnessing that our supporters are returning and joining us,” she mentioned.
Samita, a canine lover with 5 canines, has made the occasion workplace in Behala Tram Depot her dwelling since her candidature was introduced. “I start my campaign at 8 am and it continues till 10.30 in the night. The main focus of our campaign is the issue of employment. Behala is now home to only elderly people with most of their children working in other parts of India or abroad. We need to create opportunities for the young here, so that they don’t have to leave their homes,” she mentioned, including that this promise is drawing the youth to her occasion.
While Ratna has roped within the chief minister for her marketing campaign, Home Minister Amit Shah held a roadshow within the space to assist Payel. Samita mentioned that although some giant rallies have been addressed by Left leaders corresponding to Biman Bose, the occasion is focusing extra on door-to-door campaigns. Besides, the occasion’s younger brigade is organising flash mobs at essential crossings and busy markets to succeed in out to the voters.
Behala Purba, which is taken into account a TMC bastion during the last decade, has extra girls voters (1.56 lakh) than males (1.51 lakh), presumably due to which the three important candidates are women. “TMC was first to announce my name. I don’t know, if that is what forced the BJP and CPI(M) to field women candidates. However, earlier politics was male dominated, we are now witnessing a change,” Ratna mentioned.
Payel mentioned it was “fantastic” that every one the primary contenders had been girls, whereas Samita, a full-time CPI(M) employee, mentioned that reasonably than seeing herself as lady in a battle with two others, she was involved concerning the two events she is contesting in opposition to. “My fight is with the ideologies of the TMC and BJP.” On the bottom, the TMC’s marketing campaign is way forward by way of visibility — wall graffitis, flags, festoons and hoardings, amongst others. The CPI(M) will not be far behind however the BJP is catching up because the polling day nears. People of the realm mentioned they’re extra involved about fundamental points corresponding to water-logging — a ache that also persists in some pockets.
“Sovon-da has really worked for the people in Behala.As a mayor, he resolved the water-logging issue to a large extent. Let’s see, what happens this time. All three candidates are new,” mentioned Tapas Samanta, who vends fruits on the 3A Bus Stand.
Behala, as soon as a distant suburb, has witnessed speedy progress within the final decade with a number of giant housing complexes arising and a metro line within the making. Prativa Sarkar of Thakurpukur mentioned, “Mamata Banerjee announced this metro project when she was the railway minister, it has been 10 years. Don’t really know when it will be completed. Also, the menace of auto-rickshaws charging exorbitant fares needs to be checked.” Shambo Mondal, 29, a inventive skilled who lives in Sakherbazar, mentioned the problems of potholes on James Long Sarani and different roads trouble him as the difficulty of unemployment.
“Potholes are like death traps. Hope, whoever comes to power takes care of this and the traffic snarls we face every day. Also, I don’t want fascism and politics of hatred in Bengal,” he mentioned. Saugata Paul, 28, an IT skilled who moved again to his dwelling in Bhuban Mohan Roy Road from Chennai in the course of the lockdown final 12 months, mentioned the main situation for him is the shortage of jobs within the state.
“I sincerely hope industries make their way back to the state. Bengal does not have enough jobs, so we have to go elsewhere,” he mentioned. Behala Purba goes to polls within the fourth part on April 10. The votes shall be counted together with 293 different constituencies in West Bengal on May 2.
(With inputs from PTI)
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