Kolkata, March 31 (IANS): Arambagh Lok Sabha constituency in the Hooghly district of West Bengal, is one of the many seats that the BJP is more or less confident of wresting from the Trinamool Congress this time.
The first factor that is pumping confidence in the BJP leadership is the negligible margin of 1.142 votes by which Trinamool Congress’ outgoing Lok Sabha member Aparupa Poddar got elected in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Poddar had secured 6,48,929 votes (44.14 per cent of the total votes polled) while BJP’s Tapan Kumar Roy came second bagging 6,48,787 votes (44.06 per cent).
Secondly, BJP's impressive vote share in 2019 was achieved despite lacking a structured organisational network at Arambagh during that time. However, compared to 2019, BJP’s organisational set-up in that constituency is quite structured this time which was seen during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally there on March 1.
Finally, yet another factor that is going in favour of the BJP came in Arambagh is the brewing factionalism there following the denial of renomination to two-time party Lok Sabha member Aparupa Poddar.
Denied a ticket this time, Poddar has indirectly accused the party leadership of looking at the financial aspect while making the selection of candidates. She told a section of the media that since she does not have a strong financial backing it was probably the reason the party leadership did not re-nominate her.
Without naming anyone, she blamed one influential Lok Sabha member and two ministers who belong to the Hooghly District, for playing a role in the denial of her re-nomination as they were aware of her financial condition.
The interesting factor in Arambagh this time is that the candidates of the three main political parties from that constituency this time are greenhorns in electoral politics.
Trinamool Congress has fielded an Anganwadi worker, Mitali Bag, whose roots are close to Arambagh. The ruling party is depending on her ‘subaltern image’ to reach out to the common voters of Arambagh, a rural-area dominated Lok Sabha constituency.
BJP has filed Arup Kanti Digar. Although a greenhorn in politics, he has adopted a strategic campaign line of even interacting with non-BJP but anti-Trinamool Congress activists especially from the CPI(M) seeking their support to defeat the ruling party candidates from Arambagh.
CPIM) has fielded its youth leader Biplab Kumar Moitra. A greenhorn in electoral politics, Moitra carries a family legacy of leftist politics connections. His father Banshi Bandan Moitra was a three-time CPI(M) legislator from Khanakul assembly constituency, one of the seven constituencies under Arambagh.
Traditionally, a CPI(M) bastion, Arambagh has gifted CPI(M) with nine consecutive victories since 1980. Even amid the Trinamool Congress wave in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, CPI(M) candidate Sakti Mohan Malik got elected from that constituency by a margin of over 2,00,000 votes.
The pattern changed in 2014 when Trinamool Congress for the first time bagged victory from here with Aparupa Poddar winning. She got re-elected in 2019, though with a negligible margin.
With a strength of over 16,00,000 voters, the majority of the population is dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. Pockets in Arambagh are nationally famous for the production of high-quality varieties of potatoes. The iconic Tarakeswar Lord Shiva temple is also located in this constituency.