Out of the eight seats, the BJP won five and TMC bagged three in the 2019 polls. A total of 1.45 crore voters, including 73.63 lakh men, 71.70 lakh women, and 133 persons of the third gender, are eligible to exercise their franchise in 15,600 polling stations of which 2,678 are critical in the penultimate phase, an election official said.
Of the 79 candidates in the fray, Bankura and Jhargram each have the highest number of 13 contestants, followed by Purulia (12), and nine each in Medinipur and Tamluk, he said.
Polling in the eight seats will be held three days after violence erupted in Nandigram’s Sonachura village in Purba Medinipur district following the death of a BJP woman worker. According to police, BJP workers allegedly set several houses on fire and vandalised homes of some TMC supporters.
Around 919 companies of central forces and 29,000 state police personnel will be deployed in this phase, according to the Election Commission.
Except Ghatal, which is represented by two-time MP and actor Dev and is still a stronghold of the TMC, the political equations have changed drastically in Purba Medinipur district where the Tamluk and Kanthi Lok Sabha seats are situated and were won by the Mamata Banerjee-led party in 2019.
The balance of power in the region shifted in favour of the BJP following Suvendu Adhikari’s switch in 2021, despite TMC’s resurgence and strengthened influence through welfare schemes targeted at tribal Kurmi and Mahato communities.
In Kanthi Lok Sabha seat, the BJP has fielded Soumendu Adhikari, Suvendu’s brother. In Tamluk, former judge of Calcutta High Court Abhijit Gangopadhyay is fighting on a BJP ticket against TMC’s Debangshu Bhattacharya, known for composing the “Khela Hobe” song for the party in the 2021 assembly polls.
In the 2021 Assembly polls, the TMC had bagged eight of the 15 assembly segments spread across both the Lok Sabha seats in the Purba Medinipur district. In Jhargram, Purulia, and Medinipur seats, the BJP is on a sticky wicket following the region witnessing unrest last year as members of the Kurmi community, which is a deciding factor in three seats, staged protests and blockades, advocating for ST status.
The minority Kurmi community, traditionally farmers and listed as OBCs in West Bengal, Jharkhand, and Odisha, have long demanded Scheduled Tribe status. Both BJP and TMC have been treading cautiously with the ruling party forming a state Tribal Development Board and nominating a member of Mahato and Kurmi from two of the seats in the region.
Adding to BJP’s woes, Kunar Hembram, a sitting MP from the Jhargram seat, quit the party and has switched over to the TMC.
BJP MLA and fashion designer Agnimitra Paul is pitted against Medinipur’s TMC MLA and actor June Malia in the Medinipur Lok Sabha seat, which BJP leader Dilip Ghosh had won last time. Out of the 22 assembly segments, the BJP had won only six in the 2021 assembly polls as the TMC made a comeback in the state polls by winning the remaining 16 assembly seats from the region.
In the Bankura Lok Sabha seat, although the BJP had maintained its dominance in the last assembly election by winning four of the seven assembly seats, dissidence over the re-nomination of Union minister Subhas Sarkar from the parliamentary seat might be a cause of worry for the saffron camp.
In the Bishnupur seat, the BJP has reposed faith in its sitting MP Saumitra Khan to retain the seat.