West Bengal Elections, Phase-7: BJP, TMC To Lock Horns In 34 Seats Tomorrow - Know Constituencies, Key Candidates
WB Elections: The BJP is contesting 293 seats while it has left one seat for its alliance partner All Jharkhand Students Union headed by Ashutosh Mahto. The Trinamool Congress, on the other hand, is contesting 290 seats
With polling over for 222 seats in six phases, the voting has entered the last leg in West Bengal. For another 34 seats, polling will be held on Monday (April 26). This will be the seventh and second last phase of the West Bengal assembly election 2021.
In the seventh phase, 36 seats were scheduled to go for polls but voting was deferred in two constituencies following the death of two candidates in Jangipur and Samserganj. These two seats will go to the polls on May 16, and the results for these two seats will be declared on May 19.
The BJP is contesting 293 seats while it has left one seat for its alliance partner All Jharkhand Students Union headed by Ashutosh Mahto. The Trinamool Congress, on the other hand, is contesting 290 seats while it has given three seats to Bimal Gurung’s Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM). Gurung’s party has considerable influence in the hilly regions of North Bengal.
The Third Front is led by the Left and Congress. The Left is fighting on 137 seats while Congress is contesting on 91 and Abbas Siddiqui’s Indian Secular Front on 28 seats. While three alliance groups are in the fray, the key fight is said to be between the BJP and TMC.
Have a look at the major constituencies and candidates in the fray
Balurghat: Sekhar Dasgupta (TMC) vs Ashok Lahiri (BJP) vs Sucheta Biswas (RSP)
Ashok Kumar Lahiri is a well-known economist. He is currently serving as a member of the Fifteenth Finance Commission. He has also served as the 12th Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India. He was also the chairman of Bandhan Bank, Executive Director at the Asian Development Bank, and Director of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy. He has also worked with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Bhabanipur: Sovandeb Chattopadhyay (TMC) vs Rudranil Ghosh (BJP) vs Md Shadab Khan (Congress)
Bhabanipur is one of the high-profile constituencies of West Bengal. Mamata Banerjee has represented this seat since 2011. In this election, Banerjee left this seat to contest from Nandigram, where she is taking on Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP. Banerjee has fielded Sovandeb Chattopadhyay against Rudranil Ghosh of the BJP and Shadab Khan of Congress. Ghosh is a Bengali actor, and also President of the West Bengal State Council of Technical and Vocational Education and Skill Development.
Ballygunge: Subrata Mukherjee (TMC) vs Loknath Chatterjee (BJP) vs Dr. Fuad Halim (CPIM)
Mukherjee is currently a cabinet minister in the state government. He is in charge of panchayats and rural development. He has also held a public health engineering portfolio. Last year, he became the Mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation. He is pitted against Loknath Chatterjee of BJP and Dr. Fuad Halim of CPIM.
Habibpur: Pradip Baskey (TMC) vs Joyel Murmu (BJP) vs Thakur Tudu (CPIM)
Murmu is the sitting MLA from Habibpur. He was elected to the assembly in the 2019 byelection.
Sagardighi: Subrata Saha (TMC) vs Mafuja Khatun (BJP) vs SK Hasnuzzaman (Congress)
Mafuja Khatun is the Vice-president of the BJP West Bengal unit.
Kolkata Port: Firhad Hakim (TMC) vs Awad Kishore Gupta (BJP) vs Md Muktar (Congress)
Firhad Hakim is sitting cabinet minister in Mamata Banerjee-led government in West Bengal. He is in charge of urban development and municipal affairs. He has also served as the Mayor of Kolkata.
List of 34 Assembly Constituencies going to polls in Phase-VII
- Kushmandi (SC)
- Kumarganj
- Balurghat
- Tapan (ST)
- Gangarampur (SC)
- Harirampur
- Habibpur (ST)
- Gazole (SC)
- Chanchal
- Harischandrapur
- Malatipur
- Ratua
- Farakka
- Suti
- Raghunathganj
- Sagardighi
- Lalgola
- Bhagawangola
- Raninagar
- Murshidabad
- Nabagram (SC)
- Kolkata Port
- Bhabanipur
- Rashbehari
- Ballygunge
- Pandabeswar
- Durgapur Purba
- Durgapur Paschim
- Raniganj
- Jamuria
- Asansol Dakshin
- Asansol Uttar
- Kulti
- Barabani