Kolkata,: Arambagh Lok Sabha constituency in Hooghly district of West Bengal had been a CPI (M) stronghold until Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidate Aparupa Poddar won the seat in 2014, and is likely to witness tough fight between ruling party and BJP in this year election.
However, the CPI (M) is trying to hold its ground in the seat which was once its bastion.
CPI (M) candidate Anil Basu won the seat seven times consecutively from 1984 to 2004. His party colleague Saktimohan Malik won the seat in the 2009 Lok Sabha election. Trinamool Congress candidate Aparupa Poddar broke into the left party’s bastion in the 2014 election.
Amiya Nath Bose of All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) was the first MP from the constituency.
While CPM’s Manoranjan Hazra won the seat in 1971, Prafulla Chandra Sen of Bharatiya Lok Dal (BLD) had won in 1977. Mr Sen was the Chief Minister of the State from 1962 to 1967.
From 1980 to 2009 for a span of 30 years CPM dominated the constituency 9 times. While Vijay Krishna Modal and Shaktimohan Malik had won for one term each,
Anil Basu had won 7 times. In 2004 Mr Basu had won the Arambagh seat by a margin of 5, 92,502 votes which was one of the highest every victory margin in Lok Sabha polls in the country.
In the previous elections, TMC’s Aparupa Poddar defeated Saktimohan Malik of the CPI(M) with the margin of 3,46,845 votes.
In 2014, Aparupa Poddar got 7, 48, 764 votes.Runner-up Saktimohan Malik of the CPI(M) had secured 4, 01, 919 votes. Third position was held by Madhusudan Bag of BJP who secured 1, 58, 480 votes. Sambhunath Malik of Indian National Congress came fourth bagging 27, 872 votes.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Aparupa Poddar is seeking her second term from the seat. She will be contesting against CPI (M)’s Sakti Mohan Malik and BJP’s Tapan Ray
The flames of the ruling party’s internal conflict damaged Trinamool’s vote bank in Arambagh constituency. The BJP is confident of making forays into Trinamool’s strongholds here too. It is here that rival factions of the Trinamool attacked each other on July 21 last year.
“The CPI(M), which once enjoyed absolute dominance in the area is not our rival. We are fighting our own colleagues,’’ said a Arambagh TMC leader.
“There was a sharp decline in CPI(M)’s vote bank in 2014 Lok Sabha polls with its vote share dipping by 25.29 per cent. Most of them supported the Trinamool. But a large chunk of electors are waiting for an alternative political force and they have identified the BJP as their choice,’’ said Tapan Roy, the BJP candidate from Arambagh.
As per the Election Commission data in 2019, total number of electorate in Arambagh Lok Sabha seat is 17, 62, 995 of which 9, 04, 546 are male,8, 58, 431 female and 18 third genders voters. A total number of 2058 polling stations would be set up for voting.
As per order of the Delimitation Commission in respect of the delimitation of constituencies in the West Bengal, parliamentary constituency no. 29 Arambagh is composed of the seven
assembly segments such as Haripal, Tarakeswar, Pursurah, Arambag, Goghat, Khanakul and Chandrakona.
(UNI)
