‘This time, we will vote without fear’: Sandeshkhali goes to poll battle today

The Basirhat Lok Sabha seat, including Sandeshkhali that was the epicentre of the ruling Trinamool Congress-BJP faceoff in Bengal, is turning out to be an acid test for the two parties.

Rekha Patra, who is among the women in Sandeshkhali who has accused TMC strongman Shahjahan Sheikh of sexual harassment, is the BJP candidate from Basirhat – which votes on Saturday – against the TMC’s Haji Nurul Islam, a veteran and former MP from the seat (2009-14). This has thrown up the contest in the seat, seen as a TMC stronghold.

Also in the fray is the CPI(M)’s Nirapada Sardar, a local leader and former Sandeshkhali MLA.

Once the heartland of the Tebhaga movement (1946-47) that saw peasants agitate for a bigger share of the agricultural output, the island of Sandeshkhali was a CPI(M) stronghold till about the 2010s. The CPI(M)-led Left Front government gave land pattas (titles) to its inhabitants, many of whom had migrated from East Bengal following the Partition, and enjoyed their unwavering support in return.

As early as 2009 though, the TMC dealt the CPI(M) defeat when Haji Nurul won Basirhat. After the Left’s defeat in the state to the TMC in 2011, the takeover by the ruling party was quick. By 2016, the TMC was the dominant force in the area, with the significant Muslim population its major vote bank.

Before the start of the Lok Sabha elections, Sandeshkhali hit the national headlines in January, after officials of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on their way to raid the house of Shahjahan Sheikh were attacked by a mob. Sheikh was wanted by the ED in connection with an alleged scam in the state’s ration distribution system.

For over a month after the January 5 incident, Central and state security agencies failed to arrest