Arambagh Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Close Contest on the Cards Between TMC and BJP in Erstwhile Red Bastion – News18

The Arambagh (SC) Lok Sabha constituency is one of 42 parliamentary constituencies in West Bengal. The seat is reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates and comprises parts of Hooghly and Paschim Medinipur districts. Seven Assembly segments fall under the Arambagh (SC) Lok Sabha seat, of which the BJP currently holds four (Pursurah, Arambagh-SC, Goghat-SC and Khanakul) and the Trinamool Congress holds three (Haripal, Tarakeswar, Chandrakona-SC).

Polling Date — May 20, 2024; Phase 5

Sitting MP — Aparupa Poddar (Afrin Ali) (TMC)

Candidates — Mitali Bag (TMC), Anup Kanti Digar (BJP), Biplab Maitra (CPM)

Political Dynamics

• Overview: The Arambagh (SC) constituency is an erstwhile red bastion in West Bengal’s Hooghly district and is a political hotspot in terms of law-and-order volatility.
• The TMC’s decision to contest independently in the state, rather than as part of the INDIA bloc, has led to a three-way contest, with the other contenders being the BJP and the Congress-Left alliance.
• It’s a neck-and-neck fight between the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party here at the moment. Interestingly, this is the first Lok Sabha election for both their candidates.
• Arambagh is known to be a microcosm of the entire southern part of West Bengal. The trends here can largely reflect on the TMC’s poll fortunes in the other so-called ‘safe seats’ of the party south of the Farakka barrage.
• The CPI(M), meanwhile, is buoyed by the falling vote share of the TMC in Arambagh and hopes to corner anti-BJP votes here.
• TMC: West Bengal’s ruling party may have won the 2014 and 2019 editions of parliamentary polls in Arambagh, but the party’s steady decline in vote share over the last two editions point to an upcoming battle with the BJP which Mamata Banerjee’s party may find tougher to tide past.
• In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, TMC candidate Aparupa Poddar (Afrin Ali) had polled 54.94% of the votes to beat nearest rival, CPM’s Sakti Mohan Malik, by 3,46,845 votes.
• In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Poddar had polled 44.14% votes to survive a spirited challenge from BJP’s Tapan Kumar Roy. The TMC’s victory margin had plummeted drastically to 1,142 votes.
• Not wanting to risk the seat by fielding Aparupa Poddar again, the TMC has replaced the two-time MP with Hooghly Zilla Parishad member Mitali Bag. The BJP claims switching out the sitting MP is a sign that all is not well within the TMC.
• This is Bag’s debut in parliamentary polls. During campaigning, she has been passionately countering BJP allegations of neglecting the constituency.
• Bag claims that women and youth of the constituency have benefitted from various schemes implemented in the state by the Mamata Banerjee government.
• Bag has alleged that “BJP-backed goons” vandalised her parked car during campaigning on May 5. She alleged that the mob tried to attack her and her team as well. The Arambagh BJP leadership denied the allegations.
• BJP: The saffron party has sensed a realistic shot at victory in Arambagh this time given that it had trumped the TMC in four of Arambagh’s six Assembly seats in Hooghly in the 2021 Assembly elections.
• It’s vote share has also been going up in successive elections. In 2014, the party stood third at the hustings, with 11.63% of the vote share.
• In the 2019 elections, however, its vote share shot up to 44.06% and its candidate Tapan Kumar Roy lost by a razor thin margin of 1,142 votes.
• That’s perhaps why Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose Arambagh to kick start his 2024 poll campaign in West Bengal and addressed one of the election season’s first public meetings on March 1 from where he slammed the Mamata Banerjee government for “betraying the people of the state”.
• The BJP has this time nominated Arup Kanti Digar, a first timer, from the Arambagh seat.
• Digar has made the plight of farmers and recurrent floods his main election plank.
• Citing floods as a “routine affair” in places like Pursura, Goghat, Khanakul and Chandrakona during July-August every year, he has accused the TMC government of “grossly mis utilising” central funds to undertake measures like dredging of water bodies and building barrages.
• He has also accused the state government of discriminating against the area by neglecting the creation of employment opportunities for youth.
• Youth, in fact, make up majority of the BJP’s support base in Arambagh.
• The BJP candidate has further accused panchayats of withholding disbursal of central funds for several welfare schemes of the Narendra Modi government among the poor in the area.
• CPI(M): Arambagh was an impenetrable CPM fortress between 1980 and 2014. Eight of these 10 victories were clinched on the trot (1984-2004) by Anil Basu.
• This red bastion was, however, breached by the TMC in 2014 and retained in 2019.
• Hoping to wrest it back from Mamata Banerjee, the CPI(M) has fielded Biplab Maitra, a primary school teacher, from Arambagh this time.
• The CPI(M)’s district units have alleged that the party was virtually wiped out from the seat over the last decade on account of “terror unleashed by the TMC”.
• The Left party bagged 1,00,520 votes in 2019, which was less than 7% of the votes polled.
• This time, however, the situation is different, say its local leaders. They claim the unemployed graduates of the constituency are upset with the TMC for not only failing in industrialization but also turning the state’s education sector into a mess with job scams.
• According to political observers, till a few months ago Bengal seemed to be a TMC vs BJP bipolar affair. But with issues like corruption and Sandeshkhali gaining prominence, the Left-Congress alliance is fast gaining traction in several seats and turning the polls into a three-cornered contest in at least 18-20 Lok Sabha segments, including Arambagh.
• BJP Has the Edge: Election observers are of the opinion that the fight between the TMC and BJP is likely to go down to the wire this time, but the going may be tougher for the former.
• The Trinamool Congress may have to contend with grassroot grievances on development, recurrent flooding and the school recruitment scam.
• School Recruitment Scam: The school job recruitment scam is likely to have a pro-BJP impact in the constituency since a sizeable number of young teaching job aspirants hail from Arambagh in particular and Hooghly district in general.
• The Calcutta High Court had on April 22 invalidated the appointment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff in state-run and state-aided schools of West Bengal.
• The state government challenged the Calcutta High Court order, saying it cancelled the appointments “arbitrarily”.
• On May 7, the Supreme Court termed the alleged recruitment scam as “systemic fraud” and said authorities were duty-bound to maintain the digitised records pertaining to the appointment of the teachers and non-teaching staff.
• Though the top court stayed the Calcutta High Court verdict of invalidating the appointments, the ordeal has helped bolster the BJP’s allegations of corruption and job stagnation against the TMC government.
• Women With Didi: Political observers say there is a strong undercurrent of support for Mamata Banerjee among women in Arambagh.
• The state government’s Lakshmir Bhandar Scheme — launched in February 2021 to provide financial assistance to women between the ages of 25 and 60 — has been much appreciated in Arambagh.
• Women who are eligible for the scheme receive a monthly amount of Rs 1,000 if they are the head of a household and belong to the SC or ST category, or Rs 500 if they are the head of a household and belong to another category. Arambagh is an SC-majority seat.
• It needs to be seen if Mamata Banerjee’s social welfare schemes can tilt the balance in her favour.
• Not Much Sandeshkhali Impact: Sources say that while allegations of land grabbing and sexual abuse against TMC leaders is talked about in Arambagh, it may not have much impact electorally even among women voters.

Key Constituency Issues

• Lack of Development: Youth in Arambagh are said to be disillusioned with the ruling TMC over the lack of job creation and development in the constituency.
• Many of them are veering towards the BJP which has promised job and wealth creation in the region. Allegations of corruption have also tarnished the TMC’s image here.
• Recurrent Floods: Arambagh is home to vast swathes of agrarian land and comprises mostly rural Assembly pockets like Haripal, Tarakeswar, Pursurah, Arambagh, Goghat, Khanakul.
• It also includes Chandrakona, the only assembly segment falling in the neighbouring district of Paschim Medinipur.
• Recurrent floods every monsoon is one of the key election issues in all these areas.
• The BJP has alleged that the TMC government has grossly misutilised central funds to undertake measures like dredging of water bodies and building barrages while offering no more than lip service to the Ghatal master plan to control flood damages in neighbouring Paschim Medinipur. The TMC, meanwhile, has blamed the Ghatal master plan delay on the BJP-led Centre.
• Ghatal Master Plan: The Rs 1,500-crore ‘Ghatal Master Plan’ is a mega project that entails dredging of riverbeds and strengthening of embankments of 10 major rivers including Rupnarayan, Shilabati and Kansabati, which get swollen during monsoon causing deluges.
• Ghatal is a low-lying riverine area in Paschim Medinipur district that gets affected by floods almost every year.
• In 1979, the Irrigation Department of the erstwhile Left Front government had approved the Ghatal Master Plan to save the people of the region from floods.
• West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has alleged that the BJP-led central government is delaying providing clearances to the flood prevention plan that will benefit 17 lakh people.
• She announced in February this year that her government would implement the Ghatal Master Plan without any help from the central government. The TMC supremo said it would require a budget of Rs 1,250 crore.
• Keleghai Flood Control Project: The Keleghai flood project includes fortifying embankments and spurs to protect infrastructure and help riverbank communities thrive.
• As per reports, the West Bengal government has submitted a detailed project report to the central government for dredging the rivers and repairing embankments, but has not received a response.
• The project is crucial to the Keleghai basin which is prone to flooding.

Voter Demographics

Social composition

SC — 23.65%

ST — 5.73%

Religious composition

Buddhist — 0.03%

Christian — 0.17%

Jain — 0.04%

Muslim — 15.03%

Sikh — 0.05%

Major Infra Projects in Arambagh

• Road Widening: The Champadanga-Pursura-Arambagh project is a 16.326-km stretch of road that is being widened to four lanes.
• The project is being carried out by the West Bengal Highway Development Corporation (WBHDC) on an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) basis.
• The project is located in the Hooghly district and excludes the Muthadanga bypass.
• New Bridge: Krishak Setu is a river bridge on the Burdwan-Arambagh Road (SH-7).
• In February 2024, the state budget proposed the construction of a new 640-meter, 4-lane bridge called Shilpa Setu, which will run parallel to Krishak Setu over the Damodar River.
• Paschim Medinipur Projects: In November 2022, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for 4 NH projects worth Rs 5351 crore in West Medinipur. The Arambagh constituency comprises part of the Paschim Medinipur district.
• The projects include the construction of 55km Kharagpur to Chichra 4-lane road stretch at the total cost of Rs 613 crore and construction of 162km Panagarh to Dankuni (NH-2) 6-lane road stretch at the total cost of Rs 4,215 crore.
• Tarakeswar-Bishnupur Project: The Tarakeswar-Bishnupur new line project is an 82.47km railway line project that was sanctioned in 2000-01 and is estimated to cost Rs 479.20 crore. The project includes the Goghat-Kamarpukur stretch and the Tarakeswar end to Goghat and the Bishnupur end to Maynapur. Goghat and Tarakeswar are Assembly segments within the Arambagh Lok Sabha seat.
• 4-Lane Raniganj Bypass: In February last year, Nitin Gadkari approved Rs 410.83 crore for the construction of a 4-lane Raniganj Bypass with a length of 5.261km on NH-14 (old NH-60) in Paschim Bardhaman district.
• It connects many important Industrial, religious and agricultural areas, including Chandrakona Road which falls in the Arambagh Lok Sabha constituency.

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