West Bengal Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Darjeeling, Raiganj, Balurghat - voting for 3 seats in Phase 2

West Bengal's three parliamentary constituencies - Darjeeling, Raiganj, and Balurghat - will be going to polls in the second phase on April 26 (Friday). All these three seats in North Bengal are currently with the BJP. In the second phase, voters will seal the electoral fate of BJP's state president Sukanta Majumdar, and Darjeeling MP Raju Bista.  

West Bengal Phase-2 Elections 

Darjeeling 

Raiganj

Balurghat 

In Raiganj, BJP has fielded Kartick Paul to take on TMC's Krishna Kalyani. In the last elections, BJP's Debasree Chaudhuri had bagged this seat by defeating Trinamool's Kanaia Lal Agarwal by over 60,000 votes.

BJP's Bengal President Sukanta Majumdar, who won from Balurghat in 2019, is up against Biplab Mitra of the TMC. Majumdar had bagged the Balurghat seat by over 30,000 votes in 2019. Biplab Mitra, the state's consumer affairs minister, is the sitting MLA from the Harirampur assembly seat.  

Majumdar recently said that it would be a clean sweep for the BJP this year, banking on Narendra Modi's development and good governance plank in contrast with the corruption charges against the TMC and the atrocities committed on women in Sandeshkhali. "People of Balurghat, like the rest of West Bengal, will decisively vote for Modiji."

Balurghat was a stronghold of Left Front constituent RSP, which won the seat consecutively from 1984 till 2009. In 2014, the TMC wrested the seat from the RSP. In 2019, the BJP dethroned TMC. 

In Darjeeling, BJP's sitting MP Raju Bista has been fielded against Gopal Lama of the TMC. The demand for 'Gorkhaland' by Gorkhas is a dominant issue in Darjeeling. The Gorkhas have a considerable presence in the hills of Darjeeling, Kurseong, and Kalimpong. They have been demanding a separate state on the basis of their native language. 

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had, in its manifesto, promised a 'permanent political solution' to the problem. Bista bagged the Darjeeling seat by over 4 lakh votes.  

Bimal Gurung, former patriarch of the Gorkha community and president of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, is backing the BJP. While Gurung no longer enjoys his past sway over the people of the hills, he can ensure some consolidation of votes in Bista's favour. 

Bista on Saturday expressed concerns about the work culture in Bengal under Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. He criticised the TMC's reliance on temporary employment, which he believes has introduced uncertainty and instability across various sectors.

"From government employees to teachers, and civic volunteers, even the governing structure GTA itself, has been deliberately kept temporary by Kolkata," Bista said. "Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we are committed to dismantling this culture of impermanence and ushering in stability through the Permanent Political Solution (PPS) under the Constitution." 

Bista accused the TMC of neglecting the employment prospects of local youths while allegedly facilitating the settlement of Rohingyas and illegal infiltrators. "The agenda of the Trinamool Congress is to deny jobs to local youths while opening floodgates for the settlement of Rohingyas and illegal infiltrators."

In the first phase, voting was held in Coochbehar, Alipurduars, and Jalpaiguri. These three seats recorded a voter turnout of nearly 82 per cent.