Kolkata: As the West Bengal assembly polls, set up as an eight-phase election, enter the final stage, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is trying to pull in numbers in the districts of Murshidabad and Malda where she had favourable results during the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
The seventh and eighth phases are set to take place on 26 and 29 April, in which 71 constituencies will vote. Of these 71, Murshidabad holds 22 seats and Malda 12. Both are Muslim majority districts that are considered to be the Congress’s bastion.
In Murshidabad, Banerjee’s main challenger is Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who is currently down with Covid-19. With him sick and the BJP’s star campaigners Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah cancelling all their remaining scheduled rallies, Banerjee has the opportunity to make the most of the last two phases.
To that end, Banerjee has been camping in these poll-bound districts for the past four days, and will spend at least three days in Murshidabad to supervise her Trinamool Congress party’s polling arrangements.
Party MP and senior leader from the district, Abu Taher Khan said, “Didi (as Banerjee is popularly referred to) has taken charge. She has been overseeing the party’s organisation [in] Murshidabad for a long time. We will surely break all records of winning in Murshidabad.”
The primary aim of the CM, who is hoping to beat any anti-incumbency wave, is to have at least two dozen seats in both Malda and Murshidabad. The Trinamool had led in 16 of 22 in Murshidabad and in six of 12 in Malda in 2019. Meanwhile Kolkata, which votes in the last two phases, has always been a stronghold for Banerjee. In the 2019 polls, 8 of the 11 seats in Kolkata went to Banerjee.
The BJP, which is looking to form a government in the state for the first time, traditionally trails in these urban seats. However, in the assembly segments-wise break up of the 2019 results, the national party secured 28 of the 71 segments, not far behind the ruling party, which won 36.
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Camping and campaigning in Murshidabad
Trinamool party insiders told The Print that arrangements have been made for the CM to camp in Murshidabad for three days, during which time, polling for the seventh phase will take place on 26 April. Eleven of 22 seats in Murshidabad will vote then.
The strategy is similar to when the CM prioritised Nandigram when it went to polls. Banerjee, who contested from Nandigram, faced BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari and camped in the constituency for three days, monitoring her party during the polling phase.
Speaking to ThePrint over the telephone, Adhir Chowdhury said, “I know that she [Banerjee] will be staying here for three days. Hotels were booked. She is trying to make the process chaotic and wants to repeat the panchayat election of 2018. People were terrified and they refused to come out to vote. Candidates were beaten, abducted and most seats remained uncontested. She wants to do that again.”
“But we will deal with her this time. We have workers and leaders on ground. My movement was restricted due to the infection, but this is the digital age. We will resist loot of votes,” he added.
PM Modi had meetings scheduled in four districts, including Malda, Murshidabad, Birbhum and Kolkata. In the wake of the rising Covid cases, he cancelled these and held virtual rallies on Friday.
On Thursday, the Election Commission had cancelled permissions for all big rallies after Modi announced he was cancelling his rallies, and directed political parties to organise small-scale rallies in view of the Covid situation.
Banerjee and her nephew, Trinamool MP Abhishek Banerjee, cancelled their rallies and opted for a visual address like Modi did.
On Friday, she held a press conference with candidates in Paschim Burdwan. The district has nine seats where the BJP secured a victory with a wide margin in all seats in 2019.
(Edited by Manasa Mohan)
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