Constituency watch: Close fight likely in three-cornered contest at Maldaha-Uttar

Kolkata: Maldaha-Uttar, one of two post-delimitation Lok Sabha constituencies in Malda District in West Bengal is heading for a close three-cornered contest involving the Congress, the BJP and the Trinamool Congress.

While the BJP has re-nominated its sitting Lok Sabha member, Khagen Murmu, the Congress’ candidate is former party MLA from the district, Mostaque Alam.

On the other hand, the Trinamool Congress has fielded former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Prasun Banerjee, who resigned from service as an Inspector General of Police just a few days before his name was announced as a ruling party candidate.

What is keeping the BJP and the Congress ahead in this race is the fact that both Murmu and Alam have their roots in the Maldaha-Uttar constituency.

Besides being the sitting BJP MP from Maldaha-Uttar constituency, Murmu had also been a former three-time CPI(M) legislator from Habibpur (ST), one of the seven Assembly constituencies under this particular Lok Sabha.

On the other hand, Alam is a two-time Congress legislator first from 2001-2006 and then from 2016 to 2021 from Harishchandrapur, another Assembly constituency under Maldaha-Uttar.

However, the only connection that the TMC candidate Prasun Banerjee has with the district is his assignment as a former cop in Malda.

In fact, Prasun Banerjee has started feeling the heat of his “outsider” tag, as a section of the ruling party’s district leadership has refrained from actively hitting the streets in his support.

This resentment is following the decision of the top leadership to deny re-nomination to two-time elected MP from Maldaha-Uttar, Mausam Benazir Noor.

Holding the family lineage of the iconic Congress leader from the district and former Railway Minister, ABA Ghani Khan Choudhury, Noor got elected from Maldaha-Uttar as a Congress candidate for two consecutive terms in 2009 and 2014.

However, she joined the Trinamool Congress before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and the ruling party nominated her from Maldaha-Uttar, but she was defeated by BJP’s Khagen Murmu by a margin of around 65,000 votes.

After the 2019 results were declared, the general observation by analysts was that the division in the minority votes between Trinamool Congress, the CPI(M) and the Congress against consolidation of Hindu votes in favour of the BJP in the four-cornered contest helped Murmu to get elected by a comfortable margin.

While this time also the Hindu vote factor is there, the positive point for the Congress’ Alam is that the spirit of unity between the Left Front and the Congress, who have a seat sharing arrangement in West Bengal, can be felt in right earnest.

The district CPI(M) leadership is fully involved in campaigning for the Congress candidate and this should translate in good results for Alam.

Maldaha-Uttar, or the entire Malda District to be precise, is globally acclaimed for the production of juicy and pulpy mangoes.

The ‘Fazli’ variety of mangoes produced there is in demand globally. In fact mango-production is considered to be the principal source of income for a large section of the population in Maldaha-Uttar with voter strength of over 14 lakh.