LS polls: ‘Son of the soil’ is TMC’s ‘bet in Bankura’

Kolkata: “Son of the soil” and Tandangra MLA Arup Chakraborty is Trinamool Congress’ (TMC) new bet for the Bankura Lok Sabha (LS) constituency, after its heavyweight candidate Subrata Mukherjee who is no more, was defeated by the BJP’s Subhash Sarkar from the same constituency in 2019 LS polls.

Bankura LS constituency remained a “fortress” for the Left party for more than three decades. Basudev Acharya won the seat as an MP from 1980 to 2014. In 2014 veteran Left leader Acharya was defeated by TMC’s Moon Moon Sen but in 2019, Sen was not given a ticket by the ruling party in Bengal.

Subrata Mukherjee was defeated by Sarkar who secured 6,72,202 votes.

As many as 7 Assembly segments fall under the Bankura LS constituency. They are Bankura, Chatna, Saltora, Ranibadh, Raipur, Taldangra and also Raghunathpur that falls in Purulia. In the 2021 Assembly polls, BJP won 4 Assembly constituencies — Bankura, Chatna, Raghunathpur and Saltora while the rest — Ranibadh, Raipur and Taldangra were won by TMC.

TMC’s Arup Chakraborty this year is pitted against BJP’s sitting MP Subhash Sarkar while the Left has fielded lawyer Nilanjan Dasgupta.

Arup Chakraborty, the party’s district president and MLA worked for the organisation in Jangalmahal areas for long.

The BJP on the other hand lacks organisational strength in all the 7 Assembly segments apart from few pocket votes. A section of BJP workers have revolted against Sarkar and carried out anti-Sarkar campaigns on social media. Moreover, government schemes like Swasthya Sathi, Lakshmir Bhandar, Kanyashree etc. which have immensely benefited the people in Jangalmahal areas will give an advantage to TMC.

According to the 2011 Census, among the total population, around 29.1 per cent are SCs, 17 per cent STs, while 4.9 per cent are Muslims, 0.01 are Buddhists, 0.14 Christian, 0.09 Jains and 0.02 Sikhs.