A minister, actor and professor fight it out at Tollygunge

Aroop Biswas, Trinamul Congress candidate from Tollygunge seat is leaving no stone unturned to increase his margin in the forthcoming Assembly election.

Mr Biswas had defeated the BJP candidate Babul Supriyo in 2021 by over 50,000 votes. He had secured 1,01,440 votes ( 51.40 per cent) while Supriyo had got 51,360 votes 26.02 per cent). Dubdut Ghosh of the Left Front got 40,597 votes (20.57 per cent).

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BJP has fielded Mrs Papiya Adhikari, actor turned politician, in the seat. She is new to politics and does not know anyone in the party. There is resentment within the BJP over her candidature. In social media she is very critical about Mamata Banerjee.

Tollygunge Assembly seat falls under Jadavpur Lok Sabha seat with Miss Sayoni Ghosh as the MP. Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s seven wards, namely, 94, 95, 97, 98, 100, 111, 112 and 113 under Tollygunge Assembly seat. Vast areas in Tollygunge, Regent Park and Bansdroni fall under the seat.

Asked that victory in the seat is just a matter of time Mr Biswas said “ I am doing door to door campaigns daily and meeting the electorate. We have an elaborate workforce and we remain connected with the people throughout the year. In times of need we are always there to assist and support them. During Covid, we stood by the people. There is no place for complacency and I am meeting the workers to finalise the strategy.”

Sea change has taken place in Tollygunge over the years. Individual houses have been pulled down to make room for apartments and highrises in Bansdroni and Regent Park. Roads have been improved and high mast lights have been installed. Mr Biswas is popular across the board because of his amiable nature and availability.

Mrs Adhikari is confident of doing well in the election. She said the people are fed up with Mamata Banerjee. No industrial development has taken place in the state and the condition of education has gone down. The health infrastructure is poor. People have no jobs and are surviving on the dole given by the state government. She felt that even without organisation people will come and vote to oust Trinamul Congress.

A visit to the area revealed that by and large people are happy with Mr Biswas. “He is always available and when my mother fell sick in the night, he made arrangements to get her admitted to SSKM hospital,” said Namita Chatterjee, a resident of Bansdroni.

All the parks and squares in the Tollygunge Assembly area have been upgraded and special emphasis has been given to improve sports in the area.

Tollygunge was a CPI-M stronghold. CPI-M leaders like Prasanta Sur, Haridas Malakar, Jayanta Dasgupta, Archana Bhattacharya had control over the area. From 2011, there has been a massive erosion of voters. Majority of the voters shifted their allegiance to the BJP.

This time the CPI-M candidate is Partha Pratim Biswas, a Jadavpur University professor. Political experts said there is a chance of CPI-M revising its lost ground.