West Bengal polls: Fate of TMC ministers, Congress’ political relevance in Bengal at stake in 7th phase

The fate of four heavyweight ministers of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) will be decided in the seventh phase of the Assembly elections in West Bengal as 34 seats in the districts of Murshidabad (9), West Bardhaman (9), South Dinajpur (6), Malda (6), Kolkata (4) go to polls on Monday.

Earlier, 36 seats were scheduled to go to polls in the seventh phase but the polling in Jangipur and Samsrganj constituencies have been postponed to May 16 due to the death of two candidates due to Covid-19. More than 81 lakh voters will decide the fate of 264 candidates in the seventh phase.

All eyes will be on the Bhabanipur constituency in Kolkata which is currently represented by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. However, since she decided to contest from Nandigram, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) decided to field veteran leader and Minister of Power Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay from the constituency.

Read | Bengal polls: Veteran TMC leader pitted against actor-turned-BJP greenhorn in Bhabanipur

A senior trade union leader and a six-time MLA, Chattopadhyay is pitted against BJP’s celebrity candidate Rudranil Ghosh in Bhabanipur. Despite having an edge over Ghosh in terms of political experience, it will likely be a tough fight for Chattopadhyay as the constituency has nearly 40 per cent non-Bengali voters who are considered to be traditional supporters of the BJP. It will be a prestige fight for both the TMC and the BJP in winning the seat left by the Chief Minister.

Senior TMC leader and Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim will seek to achieve a hat-trick in Kolkata Port constituency from where he had emerged victorious in the last two Assembly elections. Hakim, a trusted lieutenant of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, is also a former Mayor of Kolkata.

Another senior TMC leader and Panchayat Minister Subrata Mukherjee will be contesting from the Ballygunge constituency in Kolkata. Mukherjee will be completing 50 years in electoral politics.

Also Read | 'Who wants to listen to his Mann Ki Baat?': Mamata says PM Modi should speak on Covid-19, oxygen supply instead

TMC leader and Labour Minister Malay Ghatak will be looking for a hat-trick in the Asansol North constituency in West Bardhaman.

The Congress will be fighting to retain its political relevance in Bengal and try to maintain its dominance in its bastion Murshidabad district. Out of the 11 poll-bound seats, Congress won seven in the 2016 Assembly elections, while the TMC and the CPI(M) won two each.

However, in the 2016 Lok Sabha elections, the TMC led in seven seats and the Congress led in three. The BJP led in only one seat. It remains to be seen whether the organisational skills of State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury can help the grand old party in keeping the TMC and BJP at bay.

Key statisticss:

Total voters: 81,96,242
Male voters: 42,07,548
Female voters: 39,88,473
Total candidates: 269