The polls in the 14 seats in Cooch Behar and Alipurduar districts, which will be held on April 10, in the fourth phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections is going to be a crucial test for both the BJP and the Trinamool Congress (TMC). While the BJP will seek to repeat its success in the two districts in the Lok Sabha seats where it bagged all the two seats, the TMC will seek to retain lost ground.
As for the nine seats in Cooch Behar, the TMC appears to be on a sticky ground as the BJP has an upper hand in seven out of the nine Assembly seats in the district. The TMC holds dominance in only two seats. Moreover, the ruling party in West Bengal is plagued with defections and faction feuds in the district.
Two TMC turncoats have been fielded by the BJP in Cooch Behar. BJP MP and former TMC leader Nisith Pramanik has been fielded from the Dinhata constituency and another TMC turncoat Mihir Goswmi will contest on a BJP ticket from the Natabari Assembly seat.
TMC sources said that there is considerable discontent in the district unit with the way the party leadership dealt with Goswami. “He was almost compelled to go to the BJP. Now we have to face the situation,” a senior TMC leader from Cooch Behar said.
He further revealed that such defections and faction feud has weakened TMC in the district and the party will face an uphill task there in the Assembly elections.
The TMC is plagued with faction feud in the Dinhata Assembly seat where the party has renominated Udayan Guha, the son of former Forward Bloc Minister Kamal Guha. Udayan, who joined the TMC ahead of the 2016 Assembly elections, has faced stiff opposition from the party’s old guard in the district.
Caste equations will also play a key role in Cooch Behar. The district is also home to the Rajbanshis, the largest SC group in Bengal with a population of at least 3.5 million in the state.
Both the TMC and the BJP are trying to woo the community. The district also has a minority population of about 25 per cent. Seats such as Dinhata, Sitai and Mekhlihanj share a porous border with neighbouring Bangladesh. BJP leaders including Union Home Minister Amit Shah have repeatedly raised the infiltration issues in campaigning. The TMC is trying to retain lost ground mainly depending on the development plank.
As for the Alipurduar district, BJP led in all the five Assembly seats in the last Lok Sabha elections. The deciding factor in the district will be the SC and ST community who comprise of more than 80 per cent of the population.
The economy of the district significantly depends on the tea gardens and plight of the tea garden workers has become a major poll issue.
The BJP is trying to woo the tea garden workers wit the claim of allotting Rs 1,000 crore for development of tea garden workers in Bengal and Assam if voted to power. On the other side, the TMC is seeking to gain their support with welfare schemes such as ‘Cha Sundari’ (tea beauty) under which houses will be built for them.