Raiganj (Bengal): The sitting Bharatiya Janata Party MLA has joined the Trinamool Congress and is now a candidate.
The former TMC municipality chairman is now running for the BJP.
The former Forward Bloc MLA is contesting on a Congress ticket.
These shifts in political loyalty among all three candidates make Bengal’s Raiganj Lok Sabha constituency one to watch these polls.
Raiganj shares a lengthy border with Bangladesh and Bihar and has historically eluded the TMC’s grasp despite being one of its targets. A Congress stronghold until 1991, the seat was held by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) for a decade under Subrata Mukherjee till Congress regained control once again. Former Union minister, the late Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, was the MP from 1999 to 2009, and was succeeded by his wife, Deepa Dasmunsi. In 2014, the CPI(M)’s Mohammed Salim won it again. Finally, in 2019, the BJP claimed victory, with Debashree Chaudhuri becoming Raiganj MP.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.