West Bengal: As BJP hopes to repeat 3-0 score, it faces TMC challenge from hills to border districts

As three constituencies of West Bengal vote on Friday in the second phase of Lok Sabha elections, the school jobs “scam” is back in the spotlight following the Calcutta High Court’s order on Monday cancelling the appointment of over 25,000 teachers and non-teaching staff of government schools in the state.

Among the three seats — Darjeeling, Raiganj, and Balurghat — the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has not won the last two, both bordering Bangladesh, since it came to power in the state in 2011. The BJP, on the other hand, had won all three seats in the last Lok Sabha elections.

Darjeeling

The BJP is focused on retaining Darjeeling for the fourth consecutive time, as challenger TMC hopes that the state government’s development work in the hills will tip the scales in its favour for the first time.

TMC candidate Gopal Lama, who served as an officer on special duty (OSD) in the autonomous Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) for a long time, is expected to bring his knowledge of developing Darjeeling into play; and topping it with his campaign pitch that Mamata Banerjee is “the only chief minister who cares for the development of the hills”. Also, Lama is known to be close to GTA chairman Anit Thapa.

Undermining sitting BJP MP Raju Bista’s re-election campaign is rebel BJP MLA from Kurseong, Bishnuprasad Sharma, who is in the fray as an Independent.

Bista, who has former GTA chairman and Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) leader Bimal Gurung on his side, got a shot in his arm after local leader Binay Tamang publicly backed his candidature. Just three days before the vote, Binay, who joined the Congress from the TMC five months ago, publicly announced his support for Bista, citing his disapproval of party candidate Munish Tamang.