WB Elections 2021: Voting Underway For 7th Phase; Mamata's Turf & Minorities Vote - Factors At Play

Muslim voters are set to be a key factor as incumbent government of Trinamool Congress (TMC) and its rival Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lock horns in the seventh phase of West Bengal assembly polls today.

Image: PTI

West Bengal Elections 2021: Voting is underway for 34 constituencies in the 7th phase of the Assembly elections. A total of 268 candidates, including 37 women are in the fray in this phase of the West Bengal elections. The phase will witness an intense battle in six constituencies in Dakshin Dinajpur, six in Malda, nine in Murshidabad, nine in Paschim Bardhaman, and four in Kolkata. 

All eyes are on TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee's turf Bhowanipore from where she has been a sitting MLA since 2011. However, in this election, Mamata Banerjee decided to contest from the Nandigram gram after Abhishek Banerjee left Mamata's side. She fielded one of her strongest leaders to hold the turf of Bhowanipore,

Bhabanipur: Sovandeb Chattopadhyay (TMC) vs Rudranil Ghosh (BJP) vs Md Shadab Khan (Congress)

 Banerjee has fielded Sovandeb Chattopadhyay against Rudranil Ghosh of the BJP and Shadab Khan of Congress.

Chattopadhyay was first elected as TMC MLA in 1998. He was the founder-president of the Indian National Trinamool Trade Union Congress (INTTUC) - the labour wing of the TMC.

He was the chief whip in the West Bengal Assembly from 2011 to 2016. On May 27, 2016 he took charge as the State Minister of Power and Non Conventional Energy in Mamata’s cabinet.

A layer by profession, he was also the president of Kolkata Auto Rickshaw Operators’ Union.

In 1991 and 1996, he won the Baruipur seat as a Congress candidate. In 2001 and 2006, he won the Rashbehari seat in South Kolkata on TMC ticket. He was re-elected from the same seat in 2016.

Presently, he is the minister-in-charge of the department of power and non-conventional energy sources.

Bhabanipur is located in South Kolkata and was once a Congress bastion Banerjee was still with the grand old party. Later it became Banerjee’s citadel because her Kalighat home is located in this constituency.

Ghosh is a Bengali actor, and also President of the West Bengal State Council of Technical and Vocational Education and Skill Development

Murshidabad: Shaoni Singha Roy (TMC) vs Gouri Shankar Ghosh (BJP) vs Niazuddin Sheikh (Congress)

Murshidabad is a district with a sizeable proportion of the Muslim community. Nine constituencies will go to polls in the Murshidabad district. Muslims comprise of 66.7% the population of the district as recorded in 2011 census.Roy, a two time MLA from the seat had earlier fought elections from the Congress. She had defeated Ashim Krishna Bhatta of TMC in 2016. AIMIM is fighting six assembly seats including 3 in Murshidabad and will aim to make its presence felt.

On the other hand, Congress and its left ally Communist Party of India (Marxist), referred as CPIM, will bank on a large number of minority voters in Murshidabad and its neighbouring Malda as the two districts are usually the strongholds of the alliance, especially Congress.

During the campaign, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee sought support from the Muslim community and urged them to avoid any split in votes.

The BJP, during its electioneering, blasted both the TMC and the National Congress for patronising Muslims, in its efforts to unite Hindu voters.

Among the 36 seats in the last assembly polls in 2016, TMC got 14 seats and had secured 37 per cent votes while the left-Congress combined won in 22 seats and had got 44 percent votes. BJP failed to win a single one.

But the picture was different in the Lok Sabha elections (national polls) in 2019 when BJP got 37 per cent votes, which was very close to TMC's 39 per cent. If the 2019 Lok Sabha election is something to go by, BJP is leading in 16 assembly seats, TMC in 16 seats and Congress in the rest of the four seats.

(with ANI inputs)