Since the last state Assembly elections of 2021, the political scenario of West Bengal has changed. While the Left had no representation in the state assembly after 2021, it gained some ground in subsequent urban and rural body polls, despite alleged rigging by the ruling Trinamool Congress. This momentum energised the Left, particularly the Communist Party of India (Marxist) under the leadership of Mohammad Salim, heading into the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The party sought to further increase its vote share and potentially secure some seats too, breaking the TMC-BJP binary that has largely defined West Bengal politics in recent years.
With the conclusion of the 7th and final phase of polling today, all eyes are on the results to see if the Left’s efforts have translated into electoral success.
Battle in the TMC strongholds
In the final phase of voting, which concluded today, the fate of nine Lok Sabha constituencies hung in the balance. These seats, encompassing Barasat, Basirhat, Diamond Harbour, Jayanagar, Mathurapur, Dumdum, Jadavpur, Kolkata North, and Kolkata South, fall under the North and South 24 Parganas and Kolkata district. All these seats of South Bengal were won by the TMC in the last Lok Sabha elections and two years later, the party won all the Assembly constituencies — barring Bhangar of Jadavpur — coming under these Lok Sabha seats.
This time, the Left, fighting along with the Congress, set its sights on winning a select number of seats, with three of those constituencies voting in the final phase. Although the Left is in alliance with the Congress, the latter doesn’t have much presence on the ground in areas of South Bengal, barring a few pockets here and there. Thus, the onus fell largely on the Left to challenge the TMC’s dominance in these areas, while simultaneously contending with the BJP.
The Kolkata South Constituency
This seat has been a stronghold of the TMC since the 1990s. Mamata Banerjee, first as a Congress representative, and later from her party, represented this seat from 1991 to 2011, when she had to vacate it to become the chief minister of the state. In the 2024 election, the TMC fielded its sitting MP, Mala Roy, while the BJP brought in its Raiganj MP, Debashree Chaudhuri, who served as Union Minister of State during Narendra Modi’s second term. The Left Front nominated Saira Shah Halim of the CPI(M) in this tough seat.
Although the contest was, on paper, a three-way race, the main battle was widely perceived to be between Mala Roy and Saira Halim. The Left saw potential in this seat, drawing on the 2022 Ballygunge Assembly by-election results. In that race, Saira, as the Left’s candidate, was able to push the BJP to a distant third place by polling 30 per cent — an increase of 24 per cent votes within a year. Over the past two years, Saira, the daughter-in-law of former CPI(M) leader and Speaker of the State Assembly Hashim Abdul Halim, has emerged as one of the party’s credible new faces within the Kolkata region. Her strong communication skills also make her a prominent voice for the party in national TV debates.
In a telephonic conversation with this writer, Saira expressed confidence in securing victory in this TMC bastion. She based her optimism on what she perceived as widespread anti-incumbency against the ruling party, stemming from allegations of cow smuggling, the coal scam, and the teachers’ recruitment scam. These scandals would likely work in her favour, she believed. Additionally, she sensed anger toward the BJP due to its divisive politics. She believes that the people of Kolkata South are tired of voting for the same party and this time, they want change.
The issues Saira mentioned against the TMC resonated beyond her constituency, becoming a source of concern for the ruling party across the state. Interestingly, during the conversation, she also alleged that Mamata Banerjee was trying to polarise the electorate. Saira pointed to a statement by the chief minister where she said that if there is a discussion on her government’s developmental work, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Quran and the Bible would end but not her story. This statement, which some interpreted as being disrespectful towards religious scriptures, drew criticism. Banerjee later clarified her remarks, asserting that she was talking only about her government’s developmental story and held no disrespect for any religious texts.
Jadavpur Lok Sabha constituency
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Jadavpur stood out as the only constituency where the CPI(M) surpassed the 20 per cent mark, securing 21 per cent of the vote. Recognising the area’s potential, the party nominated Srijan Bhattacharya for the 2024 contest, a young leader who rose through the ranks of student politics. The party threw its full weight behind Bhattacharya’s campaign. The Left saw a probability as the BJP, despite nominating its intellectual face Anirban Ganguly, wasn’t seen much on the ground.
Beyond this, the Left campaigned on a platform highlighting alleged corruption within the TMC. These factors offered a glimmer of hope for the Left, despite its poor performance in the 2021 Assembly elections. However, the Indian Secular Front, led by Naushad Siddiqui, loomed as a potential spoiler in Bhangar, poised to potentially draw away votes that might have otherwise gone to the Left.
Dum Dum Lok Sabha seat
Another seat where the Left hoped to make gains in this election was the Dum Dum Lok Sabha constituency. The party fielded its senior leader, Sujan Chakraborty, against the sitting TMC MP, Saugata Roy. Here too, the Left banked on anti-incumbency against the TMC and also the poor campaign of the BJP. Chakraborty’s nomination, bolstered by his clean image and reputation for addressing people’s concerns, injected a surge of energy into the Left’s campaign.
Dum Dum was one of the few Lok Sabha constituencies where the CPM polled in two digits. In two of the Assembly constituencies — Kamarhati and Dum Dum Uttar — falling under this constituency, the party performed decently in the last Assembly elections.
Other Lok Sabha constituencies
Diamond Harbour was considered one of the TMC’s safest seats, with the party’s second-in-command, Abhishek Banerjee, as the incumbent MP. The BJP, by nominating a lesser-known candidate, was widely seen as giving the TMC a free pass – a move some interpreted as a tacit understanding between the two parties. The CPI(M) fielded Pratikur Rehman, a young Muslim leader who also rose through the ranks of student politics. In this seat, which was projected as a “model constituency” by Abhishek loyalists, Muslims account for 38 per cent. Recognising the TMC’s perceived strength in the constituency, the Left strategised that fielding a young Muslim candidate like Rehman might provide an opening to challenge Abhishek Banerjee’s hold on the seat.
In the Muslim-majority Basirhat constituency, which saw a three-way contest, the CPI(M) hoped to capitalise on the candidacy of Nirapada Sardar, a former Sandeshkhali MLA, to bolster its vote share. He was arrested by police during the Sandeshkhali agitation but later was released following the court’s order.
This Lok Sabha election has been viewed as a crucial test for the Left, with its sights set firmly on the 2026 state Assembly polls. It faced a dual challenge from both the TMC and the BJP, the latter having risen in the state amid perceptions of Left weakness against the TMC. To counter this narrative, the Left strategically positioned its young woman leader, Minakshi Mukherjee, as the face of its 2024 campaign. It also fielded numerous young candidates, aiming to present itself as the only viable alternative to the TMC.
This final phase proved particularly significant, as the Left, largely relying on its own strength, challenged the TMC in some of its strongholds. While the ultimate impact remains to be seen, the “New Left” demonstrably made its presence felt in this election, disrupting the TMC-BJP binary that had defined many of the contests.
Sagarneel Sinha is a political commentator and tweets @SagarneelSinha. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.
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