The West Bengal election enters the strong fortress of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the third section, in which 31 constituencies vote on Tuesday. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is determined to register its presence in the area going to polls, banking on some of its star faces and the presence of the Indian Secular Front (ISF)’s Abbas Siddiqui, a cleric.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s get together gained 29 of the 31 seats in the 2016 elections and likewise led in 85% of these meeting segments in the 2019 nationwide polls, when the BJP gained 18 of the state’s 42 seats.
The seats voting on Tuesday are in South 24-Parganas, Hooghly and Howrah districts; many of them have a excessive share of Muslim inhabitants, giving the TMC a bonus. However, Siddiqui’s ISF has acquired good resonance in this space, and it’s contesting eight out of the 31 seats. Siddiqui’s base of Furfura Sharif falls in Hooghly’s Jangipara seat. His brother, Nawsad, is contesting the Bhangor seat in South 24-Parganas. Siddiqui has additionally campaigned aggressively on the 23 different seats which might be being contested by the ISF’s alliance companions, the Left and the Congress.
Wary of the likelihood of a division in Muslim votes, CM Banerjee has appealed to Muslim voters to absolutely again the TMC, and never Siddiqui, whom she accuses of being propped up by the BJP.
Meanwhile, Amit Malviya, the BJP coincharge of Bengal, has stated Muslims could nicely vote for the ISF as an alternative of the TMC after seeing what had occurred in Nandigram, the place he claimed the CM will lose in opposition to her lieutenant-turned-rival, Suvendu Adhikari. Siddiqui has been much more vocal in opposition to the TMC than he has been in opposition to the BJP. In an interview to News18 final week, he blamed the TMC for paving the best way for the BJP’s entry into Bengal. “ISF and its alliance with Left and Congress will harm TMC’s chances on many seats and help us, in the same way as AIMIM (Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen) harmed RJD (Rashtriya Janata Dal)’s chances in Bihar elections (last year),” a BJP chief stated.
STAR LEADERS, KEY CHALLENGE
All eyes are on TMC chief and the CM’s nephew, Abhishek Banerjee, in Phase 3 and Phase 4 of the eight-round elections. Sixteen seats in South 24-Parganas are going to polls in Phase 3, and 11 seats will vote in the subsequent section. Abhishek’s Lok Sabha constituency, Diamond Harbour, is in this district.
Abhishek has extensively campaigned in South 24-Parganas, holding 14 rallies and highway reveals right here. The BJP is, nonetheless, hoping that Abhishek’s controversial picture, alleged high-handedness of native TMC staff, the problem of reduce cash (fee), and alleged mishandling of Amphan reduction would assist the BJP in South 24-Parganas.
In the BJP camp, Lok Sabha MP Locket Chatterjee has taken up the duty of delivering some of the eight seats in Hooghly district going to polls on Tuesday; the BJP led two of these meeting segments seats in the 2019 nationwide polls. Chatterjee is herself contesting an meeting seat that may vote in the subsequent section. Another essential seat in Hooghly voting on Tuesday is Tarakeshwar, the place former Rajya Sabha member Swapan Dasgupta is up in opposition to the TMC’s native face, Ramendu Singha Roy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has held a rally in Hooghly, and it’s anticipated to enhance to Dasgupta’s possibilities. Similarly, the BJP is banking on former TMC minister and now a BJP candidate, Rajib Banerjee, to shore up the get together’s possibilities in Howrah district, the place it failed to get any lead in 2019 in any of the seven seats voting on Tuesday.
Modi will maintain rallies in Howrah and Cooch Behar on Tuesday for seats in Phase 4, at the same time as polling takes place for the 31 Phase 3 seats.
