Five days remain for what is being speculated as one of the most crucial Assembly elections in West Bengal, with the political battle unfolding against the backdrop of several key issues, including the deletion of 91 lakh voters from electoral rolls after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at R G Kar Medical College, and the invalidation of appointments of 26,000 teachers and non-teaching employees of state-run schools.
Besides the primary opposition BJP, which secured its highest-ever tally of 77 seats in the 294-member Assembly during the 2021 elections, the ruling TMC government is also set to face challenges from two other political rivals -- the CPI(M)-led Left Front and the Congress.
The Congress leadership in Bengal is expecting strong results this time in several districts, including Murshidabad, Malda and North Dinajpur, where it believes minority voters may shift their support.
Nayeem Ali, Malda district Congress president, while speaking to TNIE on Saturday, said, “Rahul Gandhi's recent address in some poll rallies in north Bengal districts, including Malda, making scathing attacks on the ruling party in Bengal, has made the situation favourable for us. We are confident of winning six seats from Malda and five others from Murshidabad and North Dinajpur district.”
Congress leadership is expecting to win seats such as Harishchandrapur, Chanchol, Ratua, Sujapur, Mothabari, and Malatipur in Malda district, once a strong citadel of the party. “In 2024 Lok Sabha polls, we had leads in these six constituencies against the Trinamool Congress,” Ali said.
For the first time in a decade, the Left-Congress alliance, formed in 2016, will no longer stand united.
Both fronts have decided to go alone in Bengal’s political landscape, long defined by its fierce ideological battles and entrenched loyalties.
This means the two fronts will have an impact on the increasingly bipolar contest shaping up between TMC and BJP in the run-up to the assembly election.
The Congress has decided to independently contest all 294 assembly seats while the CPI(M)-led Left Front is forging new regional ties.
An election observer said Mamata Banerjee’s stand on the Waqf issue has dented the Trinamool Congress’ minority vote bank.
The observer added that the recent arrest of Calcutta High Court lawyer Mofekkarul Islam for his alleged involvement in the gherao of judicial officers, including three women, in Malda’s Kaliachak during protests over the deletion of voters from supplementary lists, had further damaged the party’s support among minority voters.
He also said Congress is expected to get its name figured in the legislative assembly winning at least six seats in the coming elections in the state.