Lok Sabha election results: Political bigwigs, veterans set to bite the dust

Subrata Mukherjee was behind by more than one lakh votes against BJP’s Subhash Sarkar on Bankura seat that was once a CPM stronghold. TMC fielded Subrata Mukherjee by replacing actor-turned-politician Moon Moon Sen who defeated nine-time CPM MP Basudeb Acharya in 2014. Sarkar lost the election in 2014 from the same seat and stood third.

While CPM veteran and MP Md Salim was trailing, both BJP and TMC were ahead in Raiganj constituency till last reports came in. BJP candidate Debashree Chaudhury was leading with more than 40 per cent votes, while TMC candidate Kanhaiya Lal Agarwal was in the second position with 35.7 per cent vote. TMC candidate Moon Moon Sen, who won in Bankura in 2014, was also trailing in Asansol from where she was fielded against BJP MP Babul Supriyo.

BJP’s candidate from Barrackpore, Arjun Singh, who recently jumped ship from TMC, was ahead of TMC leader Dinesh Trivedi. While Trivedi sounded confident of a third term, the BJP candidate, a four-time MLA from the area, was poised to turn the game. The constituency was a CPM bastion until Trivedi won the seat in 2009, defeating CPM’s Tarit Baran Topdar.

Unlike Singh, BJP’s candidate from Hooghly constituency, Locket Chatterjee, worked for the saffron party for four years before contesting elections. Fighting the general election for the first time, Chatterjee is another candidate to have got leads over TMC leader Ratna De, who is a two-time MP from the constituency.

Amar Singh Rai, GJM MLA from Darjeeling, who was fighting the Lok Sabha election on a TMC ticket, was trailing in Darjeeling constituency. BJP’s Raju Bista was leading by more a few lakh votes. It took people by surprise when BJP gave the ticket to Bista instead of veteran leader SS Ahluwalia. Bista, who hails from Manipur, is a young Gorkha.

Even in Alipurduar, BJP candidate John Barla is leading with more than one lakh vote against TMC MP Dasharath Tirkey. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, TMC had won Alipurduar defeating RSP by a margin of 21,000 votes. As per BJP leaders in the state “anti-TMC factor” is the reason behind Barla’s lead from the constituency.

In Bangaon constituency, which is close to Bangladesh border, Santanu Thakur is leading by more than 1 lakh votes against TMC MP Mamata Bala Thakur. Matua vote were the biggest determining factor in this constituency. State BJP chief Dilip Ghosh was also leading by more than one lakh votes from Medinipur against veteran politician Manas Bhunia. Once a Left bastion, Medinipur was won by actor-turned-politician Sandhya Roy in 2014 on TMC ticket. TMC fielded Bhunia against Ghosh after the former defected to TMC in 2016 from Congress.