Here’s a quick look at the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat:
Assembly segments:
Kalimpong
Darjeeling
Kurseong
Matigara-Naxalbari
Siliguri
Phansidewa
Chopra
Candidates
Amar Singh Rai (Trinamool Congress)
Raju Bista (Bharatiya Janata Party)
Sankar Malakar (Congress)
Saman Pathak (Communist Party of India-Marxist)
Who won the seat last time?
SS Ahluwalia from the BJP won the seat in 2014 with 42.73% votes by a huge margin. He was followed by Trinamool Congress’ Baichung Bhutia who got 25.47% votes. The BJP was backed by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, and this was the key to the enormous support for BJP’s Ahluwalia.
Who won before that?
Darjeeling has always been dominated by local politics and organisations. The key to national parties has been to be backed by the local political bodies. In the last two terms, the Parliamentary seat has been won by the BJP due to the GJM’s support. Jaswant Singh was the MP in 2009 and SS Ahluwalia in 2014. In 1999, it was won by the CPIM’s SP Lepcha and in 2004, Congress’ Dawa Narbula. The Left, which had considerable presence in the hills politics in the 1990s, has kept losing support steadily in the region.
What about this time?
A lot has changed in Darjeeling over the past five years. While the Trinamool Congress that rules Bengal has tried to capture votes in the hills by pumping in a lot of development money, it has turned out to be rather difficult to win the hearts of the local people. GJM chief Bimal Gurung has been slapped with cases by the Bengal government for fomenting trouble in the hills. He along with the top leadership of the GJM has been absconding for months. While the Trinamool Congress has fielded a GJM lawmaker as its candidate, the “original” GJM (Bimal Gurung) is backing the BJP candidate. Gurung continues to get the support of a large section of the local people. More, the GNLF (Gorkha National Liberation Front) – a front that was formed by Subhas Ghisingh with the objective of demanding a separate state Gorkhaland – is also supporting the BJP candidate. Trinamool Congress on the other hand, has never won Darjeeling. Will it be different this time? Whatever the ruling party in Bengal may hope for, the support is tilted more in favour of the BJP with the backing of the GJM and the GNLF.
[Cover picture representational]
Comments are closed.