LS polls: BJP fields candidate for Diamond Harbour seat

Kolkata: The BJP has finally announced the name of Abhijit Das (Bobby), party’s old-timer, as its candidate in Diamond Harbour who had lost to Abhishek Banerjee in 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

The BJP on Tuesday announced seven more candidates for seven Lok Sabha constituencies across the country that includes Diamond Harbour in Bengal. Das, the former South 24-Parganas district president, will contest against Banerjee of Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the high voltage Diamond Harbour seat.

The saffron party has fielded Das to take on Trinamool heavyweight. Earlier, the party had fielded its candidates in all 41 Lok Sabha constituencies in Bengal except in Diamond Harbour as the leadership found it difficult as to who would take on Abhishek Banerjee.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Das, who has a RSS background, had contested from Diamond Harbour as a BJP candidate and came third.

Diamond Harbour seat is considered a stronghold for Trinamool Congress as the two-term MP, Banerjee is contesting the elections for the third straight term. As an MP, Banerjee had carried out a lot of development works in his constituency. Banerjee had thrown an open challenge saying no MPs in the country can produce a report card that can match what he had done for Diamond Harbour.

Diamond Harbour has attained the stature of being the most high-profile LS constituency in Bengal over the past 10 years. The Diamond Harbour LS seat alone has about 53 per cent Muslim voters. Abhishek Banerjee in his debut in 2014 LS polls had won the seat by a margin of over 70,000 votes.