On Bhabanipur turf, Mamata faces acid test in rematch with Suvendu amid SIR shadow

“I can’t say who will win from this seat, though Mamata Banerjee has her own special appeal. This is a mini India. Many communities live here and have their own distinct cultures and their own choices,” says Barnali Sen.

Suvendu is also contesting from his home turf Nandigram in Purba Medinipur, where he had defeated Mamata by about 1,900 votes in the previous polls in 2021, even as the latter had then led her party to a landslide victory across the state. That setback prompted the BJP leadership to pit Suvendu against her in Bhabanipur this time.

After her defeat in Nandigram, Mamata won from the Bhabanipur seat in a bypoll by 58,835 votes in the same year. However, the BJP was said to have been encouraged after seeing the 2024 Lok Sabha election results, when the TMC’s lead in the Bhabanipur segment plunged to 8,297 votes.

High stakes for TMC, BJP

Both parties have staked their prestige to secure this seat, carved out after the 2008 delimitation, which has always been a Mamata stronghold. She had won from the seat in a 2011 bypoll after ending the 34-year rule of the CPI(M)-led Left Front in the state. She had then won it by defeating the CPI(M)’s Nandini Mukherjee by 54,213 votes. In the 2016 polls, she defeated the Congress’s Deepa Dasmunshi by 25,301 votes.
This time, however, the BJP has gone all out to wrest the constituency from Mamata. While Union Home Minister Amit Shah accompanied Suvendu as they held a roadshow in Bhabanipur, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his Bengal campaign, also asked people to support the BJP in the constituency.

On her part, the TMC chief has also stepped up to retain her home turf, hitting the streets like never before and holding padyatras across the constituency.

After the first phase of polling on April 23, the CM addressed rallies in different parts of the state during the day and held meetings in Bhabanipur at night.

The fierce face-off is also reflected by the streets, lanes and neighbourhoods across Bhabanipur, which seem to be awash with flags, festoons and flex boards of both the contenders.

On April 26 night, both camps pointed fingers at each other for “disturbing” their rallies. An upset Mamata, who was then holding a public meeting at Chakraberia, ended her speech midway. “See how they (BJP workers) are shouting. All the media is here. It is insulting and humiliating. They are shouting because they don’t want me to hold the meeting. I beg your pardon. I will not be able to address you now. Tomorrow, I will hold a rally here. I apologise and I will leave. Please vote for me in protest against this,” she told the gathering before leaving the stage.

SIR deletions

In the wake of the Election Commission (EC)’s controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and the adjudication process, Bhabanipur saw a total deletion of about 51,000 voters or 21% of the pre-SIR electorate.
There have especially been high deletions of Muslim voters in Bhabanipur in the SIR exercise, who are part of Mamata’s core support base.

“In Bhabanipur, 42% of total deletions are Muslim voters, even though the Muslim population is only 20% of the total electors in the seat,” said the head of the SABAR institute, Sabir Ahmed, who has been doing research on the Bengal SIR.

Didi’s outreach

The TMC’s rank and file seem to have left no stone unturned to ensure a “smooth sailing” for Mamata popularly known as “Didi”.

“We are conducting meetings both in slums and at high rises across Bhabanipur. Our pitch to the people is that we have always served them. And that we now need their support for Didi,” says a senior TMC leader and one of Mamata’s poll managers, while speaking to The Indian Express.

At the TMC’s local office at Jadubabur Bazar, a party worker says, “Didi has held multiple padyatras and public meetings in all the wards of the constituency. She has also held meetings with residents of high rise buildings. She has been working overtime to reach out to the people. She is ‘gharer meye (own daughter)’ in the area.”

Close to the TMC office, a businessman Ramesh Shaw says: “There will be a contest. Had BJP pitted a small fry against Mamata Banerjee she would have won with a thumping majority. While Mamata is our own leader from here as well as the CM, Suvendu is a BJP leader who claims to be a Sanatani.”
Standing opposite a dhaba on Harish Mukherjee Road, another businessman Gurcharan Singh says, “Bhabanipur is one of the oldest areas of Kolkata. It has a variety of cultures which have existed for many years. It is a matter of pride for us that our CM is from here. Let’s see what happens.”

The BJP’s general secretary in South Kolkata, Indrajit Khatik, tells the Express: “Mamata Banerjee has been an MLA for 15 years, but did not do anything for the constituency. They used to think that it would be a cakewalk. But not this time. The TMC’s hectic, door-to-door campaigning and the CM’s rallies and public meetings indicate that they are worried.”