Bardhaman Durgapur readies for three-cornered fight, prestige battle for BJP's Dilip Ghosh

New Delhi [India], May 10 : The Bardhaman Durgapur Lok Sabha constituency in West Bengal is set for a three-cornered fight between the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday.
The constituency known for frequently altering its political allegiance has sent CPI(M), TMC and BJP representatives once each in the last three Parliamentary elections.
In 2019 BJP's Surendrajeet Singh Ahluwalia clinched the seat from TMC's Mamtaz Sanghamita with a narrow margin of only 2,439 votes. In 2014, TMC's Mamtaz Sanghamita emerged victorious and in 2009, CPM's Sheikh Saidul Haque won the polls.
BJP's Dipil Ghosh who was earlier the party's state president faces a prestige battle in Bardhaman Durgapur. The sitting MP from Medinipur faces a strong challenge against both the TMC and the CPM.
Ghosh who made headlines for his controversial remarks during his stint as the BJP's West Bengal chief, recently waded into another such controversy over his 'indecent' remarks against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
BJP MP Dilip Ghosh, on his morning walk in Durgapur, West Bengal, on March 26, said that wherever Mamata Banerjee goes, she calls herself the daughter of that state, and "she must identify her father."
BJP issued a notice seeking clarification from Dilip Ghosh regarding his remarks on the Chief Minister.
Earlier in April, an altercation broke out between the ruling party and BJP workers during Ghosh's visit to Durgapur in Paschim Bardhaman district.
The TMC has gone with cricketer-turned-politician Kirti Azad for the Badhaman Durgapur constituency. Azad, who was part of the 1983 World Cup-winning campaign, is known for being outspoken and usually getting entangled in controversies.
Azad, a three-time Parliamentarian and son of former Bihar Chief Minister Bhagwat Jha Azad joined the TMC in 2021. He was suspended by the BJP in 2015 when he openly targeted then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley over alleged irregularities and corruption in Delhi's cricket body Delhi and District Cricket Association. Following this, Azad joined the Congress in 2019 and unsuccessfully contested the Dhanbad Lok Sabha seat.
After joining the TMC, Azad got into another controversy in 2022 when he posted a picture of PM Modi in the traditional tribal attire of Meghalaya and compared it with a women's dress. Azad later apologised for his remarks and said that his party has always respected people from different ethnic backgrounds.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) which is fighting the polls in the state in partnership with the Congress, as part of the opposition INDIA bloc, has fielded Sukriti Ghoshal from Bardhaman Durgapur this time.
Though still a part of the opposition bloc INDIA alliance, the TMC chose to go alone in Bengal and announced candidates for all 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state in a show of strength at the Brigade Parade Grounds of Kolkata earlier.
West Bengal, which sends 42 MPs to Parliament, is voting in all seven phases. Polling for six Lok Sabha seats in Bengal was held across the first three phases on April 19, April 26, and May 7. Polling for the remaining parliamentary seats will be held on May 13, May 20, May 25, and June 1. The counting of votes has been scheduled for June 4.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the TMC won 34 seats in the state, while the BJP had to settle for 2 seats. The CPI (M) won 2 seats, while the Congress bagged 4.
However, the BJP came up with a much-improved showing in the 2019 polls, winning 18 seats against the TMC's 22. The Congress's tally dropped to just 2 seats, while the Left scored a blank. The 2024 Lok Sabha elections are being held in seven phases, running from April 19 to June 1.