KOLKATA: With 72 hours left for the second and final phase of polling in the remaining 142 of West Bengal’s 294 Assembly constituencies, the state is set for a crucial electoral battle between the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress and the BJP, which is trying to come to power in the state for the first time.
The election is taking place against the backdrop of the deletion of around 91 lakh voters from the post-SIR electoral rolls, highly polarised campaigns, concerns over infiltration and demographic changes, and large-scale scams linked to the cancellation of appointments of 26,000 teachers and non-teaching staff in state-run schools.
Voting in the first phase covered 152 seats in 16 districts, mostly in north Bengal, considered a BJP stronghold, and in minority-dominated Murshidabad and Malda where the Trinamool has a strong presence.
Mamata Banerjee is relying on her minority vote bank by consolidating Muslim voters, many of whom fear the SIR exercise could lead to a citizenship crisis if the BJP comes to power.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP are focusing on Hindu voters, raising concerns over ‘ghuspetiya’ (Bangladeshi infiltrators) in ten border districts — Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, Cooch Behar, North and South Dinajpur, Malda, Murshidabad and North 24 Parganas.
Around 91 lakh voters, nearly 12 per cent of the state’s electorate, were removed after the SIR process. Officials said many were marked as absent, shifted, dead and duplicate (ASDD), while the status of another 27 lakh voters remains under review by appellate tribunals.
In the 2021 Assembly elections, Trinamool secured around 48 per cent vote share, while the BJP got 39 per cent.
Apart from the deleted voters, a possible five to six per cent swing in Hindu votes and the Election Commission’s transfer of bureaucrats, IPS officers and police station officers reportedly close to the Trinamool Congress are seen as factors that could help the BJP, especially amid anti-incumbency in rural Bengal.
The CPI(M)-led Left, along with its alliance partner Indian Secular Front (ISF) and Congress, is also hoping to win some seats in North Dinajpur, Malda, Murshidabad, and North and South 24 Parganas.
Debashis Ghosh, a packaged milk seller and a Trinamool supporter, said, “I have voting for Didi since 2011 but this time I would exercise franchise for BJP. Many of us have participated Modi-ji’s roadshow near Belur Math in Howrah couple of days ago.”
Matiur Rahaman, a resident of Beldanga in Murshidabad district, said, “Large number of Muslim voters are worried about Didi’s stand on Waqf and OBC issues and decided to shift our support to the Left and Congress.”
