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High-stake 'Khela' in Bengal: Top leaders, celebrities in Phase-IV battleground
From heavyweight leaders to celebrities, stakes are high in the fourth phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections that will be held on Saturday.
Kolkata: From heavyweight leaders to celebrities, stakes are high in the fourth phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections that will be held on Saturday.
In Phase-IV, 44 constituencies from the districts of Cooch Behar, Alipurduar, Howrah, Hooghly and South 24 Parganas are going to polls. A total of 1,15,81,022 electorates will decide the fate of 373 candidates in this phase.
Among the most high-profile contests, one is the Tollygunge constituency, where BJP has fielded Union Minister Babul Supriyo against sitting TMC MLA Aroop Biswas. Biswas, also a minister in the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal cabinet has been representing the Tollygunge Assembly constituency for the last three terms. Worth mentioning, Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan campaigned for TMC candidate Aroop Biswas. CPI(M) has fielded Debdut Ghosh from the seat.
In Behala Paschim, it is Chatterjee versus Chatterjee. The constituency has been represented by state education minister Partha Chatterjee for 20 years. Now, to challenge Partha to enter into his fifth term, BJP has fielded actor Srabanti Chatterjee from the Behala Paschim Assembly constituency. The torchbearer of the Samyukta Morcha from this seat is CPI(M)'s Nihar Bhakta.
On the other hand, Behala Purba has been hitting the headlines as TMC fielded Ratna Chatterjee, the estranged wife of the sitting MLA and former Kolkata Mayor Sovan Chatterjee. Sovan Chatterjee was with the TMC before joining the BJP. Notably, Sovan left BJP after he was denied the ticket from the Behala Purba this time.
According to BJP, the party did not want to create controversy by fielding Sovan against his wife and had offered him the ticket from Behala Paschim. Sovan Chatterjee was also unhappy as the BJP did not give a ticket to his friend Baisakhi Banerjee. BJP has fielded actor Srabanti Chatterjee from Behala Purba.
In the Dinhata constituency, BJP has fielded party MP Nisith Pramanik against TMC MLA Udayan Guha and Forward Bloc's Abdul Rauf. In the Alipurduar constituency, there is a contest among TMC's Sourav Chakraborty, BJP's Suman Kanjilal and Congress' Debprosad Roy.
BJP has fielded Prabir Ghosal in Uttarpara constituency against CPI(M)'s Rajat Banerjee. Actor Kanchan Mullick is TMC's candidate from the seat
The Singur Constituency in Hooghly district is all set to witness an interesting battle between TMC's Becharam Manna and BJP's Rabindranath Bhattacharjee. The sitting MLA from Singur, Bhattacharjee was previously with TMC. As the party denied a ticket to the octogenarian leader this time, he joined the BJP. Srijan Bhattacharya is the CPI(M) candidate from the seat.
In the Chunchura Assembly constituency, BJP MP Locket Chatterjee is standing against TMC's Asit Mazumdar and Forward Bloc's Pranab Ghosh.
CPI(M) heavyweight Mohammed Salim is contesting from the Chanditala constituency. BJP has fielded actor Yash Dasgupta against Salim. Swati Khandoker is the TMC candidate from Chanditala.(ANI)