Malda is one of the districts where delimitation has seriously impacted the political contours. Earlier,there was only one Lok Sabha seat in Malda,which had become the hegemony of Barkat Ghani Khan Choudhury of Congress. After delimitation,Malda has two seats,making the poll battle complex. From 1980 to 2004,Ghani Khan won the Malda Lok Sabha seat for seven consecutive times. His victory margin increased gradually and touched a whopping 1,11108 votes during the 2004 elections. When by-elections were held after Khans death in 2006,his brother Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury won it comfortably by 83,391 votes. After the delimitation,Malda got two Lok Sabha constituencies North Malda and South Malda. According to the 2001 census,the population of Malda district was 32 lakhs. It has grown up by nearly 14 per cent in the last seven years, said DM SK Ghosh. District administration claimed that infiltration was a major cause for the rise in population. South Malda still continues to be a Congress stronghold,with Congress MLAs in 3 of the 7 Assembly constituencies and Left Front having only one. The Congress vote share in the 3 newly-formed constituencies is significantly higher than that of the Left Front. Two of the Assembly seats in this constituency (Farakka and Samsherganj) fall in Murshidabad. Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury is seeking a re-nomination from South Malda. Going by the present vote share,winning the seat should not be too difficult for Congress. The situation in North Malda is different. The Left Front holds 5 of the 7 Assembly seats here. The biggest factor,however,working in favour of Congress is that the seat is contested by Mausam Noor,niece of Ghani Khan Choudhury. Mausam is banking on the sympathy wave that helped her uncle Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury to win the 2006 by-elections. While the Congress top brass picked her over Abu Naser Khan Choudhury,her other uncle,the decision has come amid fervent protests by Congress supporters,hinting a vote division due to family feud. The area of Kharba that was earlier part of Raigunj constituency under Priyaranjan Das Munsi has also made the job tougher for Mausam Noor. Throughout her campaigns along the Chanchol area she cannot afford not to mention her closeness to Priyo mama.
