Cooch Behar South sees early campaign push with BJP yet to announce candidate

Cooch Behar: With the Bharatiya Janata Party yet to announce its candidate for the Cooch Behar South Assembly Constituency, the election campaign in the region has already gathered momentum, giving rivals an early edge.

From Sunday morning, candidates of the Trinamool Congress intensified their outreach across multiple Constituencies. In Cooch Behar South, the Trinamool Congress has once again fielded Abhijit De Bhowmik, the district party president, who had narrowly lost the seat in 2021 to sitting BJP MLA Nikhil Ranjan De by a margin of around 4,000 votes.

Having maintained a steady presence in the Constituency since the last election, Abhijit De Bhowmik has now launched an aggressive campaign following the official announcement of his candidature. On Sunday, he conducted extensive outreach in the Chilkir Hat Gram Panchayat area, where several families—including a former BJP Panchayat member—joined the Trinamool Congress.

Addressing voters, De Bhowmik alleged that the sitting BJP MLA had failed to deliver development over the past five years.

He said his campaign would focus on direct engagement with residents and on highlighting the welfare initiatives introduced by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

In the Sitalkuchi Assembly Constituency, Trinamool Congress candidate Harihar Das held a series of meetings in the Jor Patki Gram Panchayat area. Das, known to be a close associate of BJP Rajya Sabha MP Ananta Maharaj, has emerged as a politically significant choice, potentially reshaping local dynamics.

The BJP, which currently holds the seat, has replaced sitting MLA Baren Chandra Barman with Savitri Barman

as its candidate.

Meanwhile, in Mekhliganj, Trinamool Congress candidate Paresh Chandra Adhikari carried out campaign activities across the town. On the other hand, the BJP’s organisational focus remained elsewhere, with its candidate attending a party meeting in Siliguri on Sunday, resulting in no active campaigning in the constituency that day.

With the BJP yet to declare its nominee for Cooch Behar South, the Trinamool Congress appears to have gained an early advantage in the electoral contest.