KOLKATA: Going by its fluctuating voting patterns since the 2009 general elections, a neck-and-neck contest is expected in the Asansol Lok Sabha constituency, the industrial-cum-coal belt in West Bengal’s West Burdwan district.
While the Trinamool Congress has renominated actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha — who got elected in the bypolls in 2022 — from Asansol, the BJP initially fielded popular Bhojpuri actor-singer Pawan Singh, who backed out soon after his candidature was announced.
On Wednesday, the BJP named S.S. Ahluwalia, the sitting MP from the Bardhaman-Durgapur Lok Sabha constituency, as its nominee from Asansol.
The CPI-M has fielded the “daughter of Asansol”, Jahanara Khan, who was elected the party legislator twice from Jamuria, one of the seven Assembly constituencies under the Asansol Lok Sabha seat.
What makes the contest interesting in Asansol is the complexity of the issues typical to this constituency and the fluctuating voting pattern seen in the last few elections since 2009.
The first issue is the frequent subsistence of land in the coal belt, mainly because of illegal and rat-hole mining carried out in the abandoned coal mines of the region.
While the opposition parties, mainly the BJP, accuse the Trinamool Congress of encouraging illegal mining in the area to fill up the pockets of its leaders, the ruling party blames the Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL) for the ‘lackadaisical’ filling up of the abandoned mines, leading to illegal mining in the region.
The Trinamool also accuses the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which is responsible for the security of the coal mines, of having a clandestine understanding with the illegal miners.
The second burning issue is the compensation and rehabilitation of those displaced because of the frequent land subsidence in the area.
While the state government blames the Centre for not sanctioning or releasing adequate funds for compensation and rehabilitation, the Trinamool regime is blamed for its reluctance to procure alternative land for rehabilitation purposes.
Also, the fluctuating voting pattern seen in the past few elections makes the contest even more interesting in Asansol, which had been a traditional red bastion from 1989 to 2009, handing the CPI-M eight consecutive victories.
Even amid a Trinamool wave in 2009, CPI-M candidate Bansa Gopal Chowdhury won the seat by a comfortable margin of over 71,000 votes. However, the equation changed in 2014 when the BJP candidate and singer-turned-politician Babul Supriyo won the seat by a similar margin. In 2019, Supriyo was re-elected as the BJP MP with his victory margin swelling to 1.97 lakh votes.
However, soon after the Assembly elections in 2021, Supriyo jumped ship to the Trinamool and resigned as the Lok Sabha member from Asansol, necessitating a by-election.
In the bypoll held in 2022, Trinamool candidate Shatrughan Sinha pulled off a surprise victory as he won by over three lakh votes, a margin the BJP found difficult to digest.
With over 16 lakh voters, Asansol is predominantly an urban constituency in the heart of the state’s industrial-cum-coal belt, where both the ruling and the opposition nominees are fancying their chances this time.
| Gurbani World