Hooghly Lok Sabha Election Results 2024 LIVE: Locket Chatterjee trailing, Rachna Banerjee takes early lead

Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Locket Chatterjee is trailing whereas Trinamool Congress' (TMC) Rachna Banerjee has taken an early lead, as per initial trends. Hooghly Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 42 Lok Sabha (Parliamentary) constituencies in the state of West Bengal, where BJP has made its mark in 2019. Locket Chatterjee of BJP won the seat in last election, bagging 6,71,448 votes defeating Ratna De of Trinamool Congress and Pradip Saha of CPI(M).

By 2009, the All India Trinamool Congress had become a strong alternative to the CPM in Hooghly. In the 2014 elections, the Trinamool Congress completely overshadowed the CPM, with Dr. Ratna De winning the seat with 614,312 votes.

After the 2009 delimitation, the Lok Sabha constituency includes these assembly segments: Singur, Chandannagar, Chunchura, Balagarh (SC), Pandua, Saptagram, and Dhanekhali (SC).

In 2024, BJP's Locket Chatterjee is up against TMC's Rachana Banerjee and CPI(M)'s Monodip Ghosh.        

Once part of a thriving industrial hub along the Hooghly river, this area boasted fertile agricultural lands. However, over time, the Dunlop tyre factory in Sahaganj and the renowned Ambassador car plant in Hind Motor closed down. Other significant closures included fertilizer units, cotton mills, a food processing unit, and a steel plant, mirroring a broader trend of industrial decline.

With a rich colonial history, the land witnessed Portuguese settlement in Bandel, a French colony in Chandannagore, a Danish settlement in Sreerampur, and a Dutch colony in Chinsurah.

The contentious acquisition of agricultural land in Singur became emblematic, contributing to the decline of the Left Front's rule after more than three decades in power.

Hooghly went to polls on May 20.