At Pandabeswar fight is between present and former TMC district presidents

The Pandabeswar Assembly constituency is set to witness a keen contest between the present and former district presidents of the Trinamul Congress (TMC) in Burdwan West ~ perhaps the only one among the state’s 294 Assembly seats where two such leaders are pitted against each other.

The Assembly has 18,83,388 voters, with 9,44,867 male and 8,40,470 female voters.

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Narendranath Chakraborty, the sitting MLA, is the current district president of the TMC. He faces Jitendra Tewari, a former MLA and ex-Mayor of Asansol, who once held the same post in the TMC but is now contesting as a BJP candidate.

The clash between the present and former district chiefs has become the cynosure of all eyes in West Burdwan. Union home minister Amit Shah has already urged voters to send Mr Tewari to the Assembly, hinting at larger plans for him.

Mr Tewari was the tallest Hindi-speaking TMC leader in West Burdwan. Since his exit from the party ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections, the TMC has struggled to find a comparable replacement.

Trade union leader Prabir Kumar Mondal is contesting on behalf of the CPI-M, while Uttam Kumar Roy represents the Congress and Jubed Sheikh is the SUCI candidate. Although the contest is largely bipolar, the CPI-M and Congress candidates could play a decisive role in the final outcome, to be declared on 4 May. Five Independent candidates are also in the fray.

Key election issues in Pandabeswar this year include the long-pending railway over bridge in the Andal-Sainthia section, subsidence and underground fires, and an acute drinking water crisis. Residents are demanding proper rehabilitation and resettlement from subsidence and fire affected areas. Rising air pollution in the colliery belt is another major concern, with voters expecting concrete solutions from the candidates.

Over the past 15 years, the constituency has frequently made headlines over allegations of illegal coal mining and transportation. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) registered a fresh case last year in connection with illegal coal and sand mining and has begun investigations.

In the 2021 Assembly elections, TMC candidate Narendranath Chakraborty won by a wafer-thin margin of 3,803 votes. For the first time in two decades, the Indian National Congress is contesting this seat, where it has a significant presence through its trade union wing, INTUC. INTUC unions are active in advocating for coal miners working in privately operated patches of Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL).

Local MDO (mine developer and operator) contractors running these ECL patches are allegedly close to Mr Chakraborty.

Both Mr Chakraborty and Mr Tewari are facing FIRs under the SC/ST Act.

Around 11,268 voters in the Pandabeswar constituency were placed under adjudication, with more than 55 per cent of names reportedly deleted ~ an aspect that could influence the outcome of what is expected to be a closely-fought election. While Mr Tewari appears to have an edge in the Pandabeswar block, Mr Chakraborty’s stronghold lies in the minority-dominated Laudoha–Faridpur block.