English Bazar Assembly segment in South Malda, a challenge for both TMC and BJP

Malda: The English Bazar Assembly segment in the South Malda seat poses a challenge for both the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming 2024 general elections. In the 2019 Parliamentary elections, this segment delivered a surprise by granting the BJP a substantial lead of almost 94,000 votes, although the TMC managed to recover from this setback in the elections that followed.

While the TMC lost to the BJP in the 2021 Assembly elections by nearly 20,000 votes TMC secured victories in 25 out of 29 wards in the 2022 municipal elections. TMC leaders attribute this recovery mainly to the organisational reforms implemented after the 2019 elections. On the other hand, the BJP, despite its defeat in the municipal elections, is now focused on increasing its lead to about 1,00,000 votes in 2019. They aim to maintain the momentum of their successes in 2019 and 2021 through various campaigns, including those led by Narendra Modi and Amit Shah.

In the 2006 and 2011 Assembly elections, Krishnendu Narayan Choudhury won the seat as a Congress candidate. Later that year, he defected to TMC in 2013 and won the by-election as a TMC candidate. In 2016, Nihar Ranjan Ghosh, a Left-supported Independent candidate won the Assembly election from this seat. In 2017, Ghosh defected to TMC and ousted the then chairman of English Bazar Municipality, Krishnendu Narayan Choudhury to hold dual positions as MLA and chairman.

In a turn of events in 2019, the BJP managed to take a mammoth lead of more than 94,000 votes in Parliamentary elections. In 2021, TMC once again gave the Assembly ticket to Choudhury and Ghosh was sent to Chanchal for the poll battle. In 2021, Choudhury lost to Sreerupa Mitra Choudhury of BJP by almost 20,000 votes. Finally in 2022, TMC won 25 seats out of 29 in municipal elections and Choudhury was made the chairman of the civic body while BJP could get only three wards. Krishnendu Narayan Choudhury, chairman of EBM, stated: “After the setback in 2019 when Ghosh served as MLA of English Bazar and chairman of EBM, we strengthened the party organisation from the booth level and established a back office. The recovery was evident in the 2022 municipal elections. With the Parliamentary elections approaching, we are confident of leading in the EBM area. Other party leaders are overseeing operations in the rural areas of the Assembly segment and we anticipate significant support from them.”

Gobinda Mandal, BJP leader, commented: “For various reasons, the popularity of the BJP in Parliamentary elections is immense and people will vote in favour of Modi. This time, we expect to secure a lead of at least 1,00,000 votes from the English Bazar Assembly segment.”