PHASE II SEATS IN BENGAL SET TO WITNESS A KEEN CONTEXT

The three constituencies going to the polls on 26 April were won by BJP in 2019.

- SUPROTIM MUKHERJEE

As Bengal gears up for the second phase of elections on 26 April, the three constituencies going to the polls, Darjeeling, Raiganj, Balurghat, present contrasting pictures, even as the BJP, which won all three seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, hopes to do an encore.

DARJEELING

Darjeeling, known as the Queen of the Hills, has long supported the Bharatiya Janata Party. In 2009, it elected the former Central Minister Jaswant Singh. In 2014, it put its faith on S.S. Ahluwalia. And in 2019, BJP’s Raju Bista was elected with a massive 60% of the votes polled and a margin of four lakh. However, after toying with the idea of nominating former Foreign Secretary, Harsha Vardhan Shringla, the BJP decided to renominate Bista for the second consecutive term. The constituency comprises parts of Uttar Dinajpur, Kalimpong and Darjeeling districts.

“Darjeeling is a unique constituency with a lot of strategic importance. It has three international borders. Within this constituency, you have the India-Nepal border, the India-Bhutan border and the India-Bangladesh border. If you go further north in Sikkim then you have a border with Tibet and China,” says Shringla, whose family hails from Darjeeling. “This is a very strategic part of the country and very vulnerable both from outside and within,” he adds.