West Bengal Assembly Elections 2021: Top constituencies to watch out for in Phase-I voting

Key Constituencies to Watch Out For This West Bengal Elections 2021: In the first phase, thirty constituencies spread in three districts of Purulia, Jhargram and East Medinipur will go to polls on March 27 (Saturday). Of these constituencies, seven are going to draw some attention due to various factors including their polling trends and current candidates. These seven constituencies are Purulia, Medinipur, Kharagpur, Kharagpur Sadar, Kanthi Uttar, Kanthi Dakshin and Baghmundi.

West Bengal Elections 2021: Phase 1 voting date, schedule, key constituencies — All you need to know

Purulia Vidhan Sabha constituency election: The Purulia assembly constituency comes under the Purulia district of West Bengal. Currently, the constituency is being held by the Congress which wrested it from the TMC in 2016. In 2011, TMC’s Kamakshya Prasad Singh Deo had defeated Koushik Majumdar of the Left by over 25,000 votes. In 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP’s Jyotirmoy Singh Mahato won the Purulia parliamentary seat by over 2 lakh votes. This time, the saffron party has fielded Sudip Mukherjee to take on Sujoy Banerjee of TMC and Partha Prathim Banerjee of Congress.

Medinipur Vidhan Sabha constituency election: The Medinipur assembly constituency was a Left bastion until the Trinamool Congress wrested it in 2011. This seat had been with the Left since 1967 to 2011 except for one term from 1977 to 1982, when Janata Party won from here. In 2011, the TMC’s Mrigendra Nath Maiti emerged victorious and retained the seat for the party in 2016. This time, TMC has given ticket to Sujoy Banerjee to challenge BJP’s Shamit Das and Kumar Ghosh of the CPIM. The seat is in focus as Medinipur is one of the strongholds of Suvendu Adhikari, former TMC leader who is now with the BJP. In 2019, BJP’s Dilip Ghosh had won Medinipur Lok Sabha seat by nearly 89,000 votes.

Kharagpur Vidhan Sabha Constituency election: The Kharagpur assembly constituency comes under Paschim Medinipur district of West Bengal. In 2016, the TMC bagged this seat from the CPM. This time, Dinen Ray of TMC is up against Tapan Bhuiya of BJP and Saddam Ali of CPIM. Since 2019, the saffron party has made inroads in the district and is expected to give tough fight to the ruling Trinamool Congress. IN 2019, Dilip Ghosh of the BJP won from Medinipur by over 88,000 votes.

Kharagpur Sadar Vidhan Sabha constituency election: The Kharagpur Sadar also comes under the West Medinipur district. In 2016, the Kharagpur Sadar seat had gone to Dilip Ghosh of the BJP. It was one of the three seats that the saffron party had won in the last assembly elections. Interestingly, the contest here is between the Congress and the BJP. Before BJP, this seat was held by the Congress. In this election, BJP’s Hiran will be contesting against Reeta Sharma of Congress and Pradip Sarkar of TMC.

Kanthi Uttar Vidhan Sabha Constituency election: Kanthi Uttar, earlier known as Contai North, is an assembly constituency in the East Medinipur district of West Bengal. This assembly seat has been held by the TMC since 2011. In the last assembly polls, Banasri Maity pf TMC had defeated Left candidate Chakradhar Maikap by about 18,000 votes. Maity had got 103783 votes while Maikap secured 85,207 votes and the BJP just 11945 votes. This time, the saffron party is expected to do better here as this assembly segment is one of the pocket borough of the Adhikari family. Kanthi assembly seat comes under the Kanthi Lok Sabha constituency, currently held of Shishir Adhikari, father of Suvendu Adhikari. Shishir has now joined the BJP.

Kanthi Dakshin Vidhan Sabha constituency election: The Kanthi Dakshin assembly constituency also comes under the East Medinipur district. This assembly constituency has been held by the Adhikari family since 2001. In 2001, Shishir Adhikari won from here and held it till 2006. In 2006 election, Shishir’s son Suvendu Adhikari won this seat for the TMC. From 2009 to 2017, Suvendu’s brother Dibyendu Adhikari represented this seat in the Assembly. Dibyendy left this seat in 2017 when he became Member of Parliament. This time, the TMC has fielded Jyotirmoy Kar to take on Arup Kumar Das of BJP and Anulup Panda of CPIM. Kanthi Dakshin is one of the seven assembly segments of Kanthi Lok Sabha constituency, currently held by Shishir Adhikari.

Baghmundi Vidhan Sabha Constituency election: The Baghmundi assembly constituency falls under the Purulia district of West Bengal. In 2016, Congress candidate Nepal Mahata had emerged victorious in close contest with Samir Mahato of the Trinamool Congress. BJP’s Jyotirmay Singh Mahato had got 11219 votes. This time, the BJP has given this seat to its lone alliance partner the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU). Here, AJSU chief Ashutosh Mahato is contesting against Nepal Mahata of Congress and Sushanta Mahato of TMC. The Baghmundi assembly seat is part of the Purulia Lok Sabha constituency, currently held by the BJP.