India
Will TMC's Pratima Mondal win?
Updated : May 24, 2019, 01:37 PM IST
Pratima Mandal of TMC won by 316775 vote over nearest candidate from BJP.
Jaynagar Lok Sabha constituency profile:
Jaynagar Lok Sabha constituency located in South 24 Pargana in Bengal is one of the rare seats in the state where there is a five-cornered race. Apart from the usual suspects viz TMC, Left, BJP and Congress, there is also a strong presence of SUCI. In fact in 2009, in order to break RSP's one-sided domination from this SC- reserved seat, TMC backed SUCI candidate who went on to win the election.
Last election though, TMC won comfortably with Pratima Mondal creating history becoming first TMC MP from Jaynagar. She defeated RSP's Subhas Naskar by 1.08 lakh votes. SUCI's Tarun Mandal, who won with TMC support in 2009 came third. Cut to 2019, Pratima Mondal is again contesting against veteran Subhas Naskar. SUCI has fielded Joy Krishna Halder. BJP's Ashok Kandari and Congress candidate Tapan Mondal are also in the fray.
The assembly segments under Jaynagar LS are: Gosaba (SC),Basanti (SC), Kultali (SC), Jaynagar (SC), Canning Paschim (SC), Canning Purba and Magrahat Purba (SC). Out of these, Jaynagar and ultali for long have been SUCI strongholds which essentially make them a player in this constituency. However, TMC with its superior ground game is significantly ahead of the other parties in Jaynagar.
It's not like Pratima Mondal's work is anything to hugely write home about, she has only managed to exhaust 78% of her MPLAD fund. Parts of the Jaynagar Lok Sabha constituency consists of the famous Sunderbans, which is the largest tidal delta in the world along with the parts of it in Bangladesh.
Historically, RSP has won the seat eight times with Sanat Kumar Mandal winning at a stretch from 1980 to 2004. Many seats in Bengal has virtually shown similar trends only to change colours in 2009 or 2014.
Mamata Banerjee is hoping that developmental work done by the state government in the region will play positively for TMC candidate. BJP is hoping that with the steady decline in Left's support base, RSP's core voters may shift to their flanks giving them a decent shot. On 19th May, voters will decide if they plan to send a new individual to the Lok Sabha or are happy with Pratima Mondal.