Minority-populated Bengal districts to vote in 3rd phase of LS polls amidst CAA discourse

In West Bengal's third Lok Sabha phase, four Muslim-majority constituencies vote amidst divisions within the Left-Congress combine and TMC. The narrative around the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) could influence the outcome. The BJP aims to benefit from potential vote fragmentation and play up CAA-related polarization. While the TMC and Left-Congress compete for minority vote share, the Congress fields Mohammed Salim in Murshidabad. Despite the TMC's dominance in Murshidabad and Jangipur, the dynamics remain fluid. Maldaha Dakshin and Maldaha Uttar face intense contests, with the TMC, Left-Congress, and BJP vying for victory. Over 73 lakh voters will choose from 57 candidates across 7,360 polling stations.

The third phase of Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal will see four Muslim-majority constituencies going to the polls on Tuesday, with the division of minority votes among the Left-Congress combine and the TMC and narrative on the Citizenship Amendment Act potentially shaping the outcome.

The third round of polls will also witness INDIA bloc partners at the national level - the TMC and the Left-Congress combine - fighting separately in the state in an intense battle of political supremacy in Maldaha Uttar, Maldaha Dakshin, Jangipur and Murshidabad. Voters of these constituencies will decide the electoral fate of candidates, including one of the BJP and CPI(M) state secretary Mohammed Salim, who aspires to return to the lower house of Parliament after a five-year hiatus.

Presently, the Murshidabad and Jangipur Lok Sabha seats are held by the Trinamool Congress (TMC), which has renominated its sitting MPs Abu Taher and Bidi baron Khalilur Rehman respectively.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has again fielded Khagen Murmu for the Malda Uttar seat against TMC candidate Prasun Banerjee and former Congress MLA Mostaque Alam.

In the Malda Dakshin seat, the Congress has passed on the representation mantle from an indisposed Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury, party patriarch ABA Ghani Khan Choudhury's brother who won the seat without a break from the 2006 bypolls, to his son Isha Khan Choudhury, a former MLA.

Both Malda and Murshidabad districts, with significant minority populations of approximately 55 per cent and 70 per cent respectively, are pivotal battlegrounds where the TMC and the Left-Congress alliance aim to secure a substantial share of minority votes, a decisive factor in the four constituencies.

Contrarily, the BJP is banking on a fragmentation of minority votes and the polarisation surrounding the CAA, given the substantial refugee population in the bordering districts, particularly in retaining the Malda Uttar seat.

Political analyst Biswanath Chakraborty said, ''In this third phase, beyond the fight between the TMC and the BJP, it will be a showdown between the TMC and the Left-Congress alliance, vying for the lion's share of minority votes. The BJP anticipates that a division in minority voters might favour its electoral prospects in the region.'' While issues like riverbank erosion, unemployment, and migrant labourers remain pertinent, the implementation of CAA rules and the campaign narratives of the TMC and Congress, portraying CAA as a precursor to the National Register of Citizens (NRC), dominate the electoral discourse in these areas.

With the Left-Congress alliance fielding former CPI(M) MP Mohammed Salim in Murshidabad, both parties are leaving no stone unturned to secure his victory, as pundits identify this as one of the few constituencies where the alliance stands a chance against the binary of the TMC and the BJP.

Despite the TMC's confidence, particularly in Murshidabad, where it secured 41.57 per cent of the votes in 2019, with the Congress trailing at 26 per cent, the BJP at 17.05 per cent, and the CPI(M) at 12.44 per cent, the dynamics remain fluid.

Notably, Murshidabad, bordering Bangladesh, encompasses seven assembly segments, six of which were won by the TMC in 2021, with only one secured by the BJP.

Similarly, in the Jangipur Lok Sabha constituency, historically associated with former President Pranab Mukherjee, who had won the seat twice as a Congress candidate, the TMC aims at retaining its hold with Khalilur Rehman, banking on its 2019 victory where it garnered 43 per cent of the votes.

However, the BJP and Congress, with 24per cent and 19 per cent of the votes respectively, remain contenders in this electoral arena, reflecting a competitive three-cornered contest.

All seven assembly constituencies within the Jangipur seat were captured by the TMC in the 2021 polls.

However, the TMC faced a setback in the Muslim-majority Sagardighi assembly seat during a 2023 bypoll, losing it to the Left-Congress alliance, following which the Congress MLA Byron Biswas defected to the TMC.

In Maldaha Dakshin, the Left-Congress alliance relies on the legacy of Congress patriarch ABA Ghani Khan Choudhury, while the BJP fields party MLA Sreerupa Mitra Chowdhury and the TMC nominates political newcomer Shanawaz Ali Raihan, a research scholar at Oxford University.

With six out of seven assembly segments in Malda Dakshin won by the TMC, which commands nearly 60 per cent minority population, the electoral dynamics suggest a fierce contest. The Congress narrowly retained the seat in 2019, securing 34.73 per cent of the votes against the BJP's 34.09 per cent, while the TMC trailed with 27 per cent.

In Maldaha Uttar, the BJP aims to maintain its grip, leveraging the potential division of votes between the TMC and the Left-Congress alliance.

In 2019, the seat was clinched by Murmu with 37 per cent of the votes, benefiting from the split between the TMC and Congress, which secured 31 per cent and 22.53 per cent respectively.

Altogether 73,37,651 voters, including 36,12,395 women and 154 belonging to the third gender, are eligible to exercise their franchise in 7,360 polling stations. Out of the 57 candidates contesting in this phase, Jangipur has 14, Maldaha Uttar (15), Maldaha Dakshin (17) and Murshidabad (11).

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)