Kolkata: After the announcement of Lok Sabha election dates, heavy politicking continues. The fight in West Bengal is interesting because despite being part of the Indi alliance of opposition parties, Mamata Banerjee has fielded her candidates on all 42 seats. Hooghly Lok Sabha seat is very special among these. This time an interesting contest can be seen here. There is a contest on this seat between two actress-turned-politician women candidates, one of whom is a sitting MP and has been active in politics for a decade and the other is inexperienced.
The BJP has again fielded sitting Hooghly MP Locket Chatterjee, while the Trinamool Congress has fielded actress-turned-politician and popular reality show “Didi No. 1” anchor Rachna Banerjee. On the other hand, CPI(M) youth state committee member and trade union activist Monodeep Ghosh is also in the fray, who like Rachana Banerjee is entering electoral politics for the first time.
Ghosh, who is in his mid-forties, is struggling to survive in a battle against two celebrity competitors. Before the election campaign began, both Chatterjee and Banerjee stressed that their relations would never be spoiled by the electoral fight. Both have also worked together in films.
What is the geographical and industrial situation?
Hooghly district is located near Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal. It is named after the Hooghly River. The headquarters of the district is at Hooghly-Chinsurah (Chunchura). It has four subdivisions – Chinsurah Sadar, Shrirampur, Chandannagar and Arambag.
Before colonization the city of Hooghly was a major river port for trade in India. Thousands of years of rich heritage still exists in the district as part of the Bengali kingdom of Bhurshut. According to 2011 census, population of Hooghly district is 55 lakh 19 thousand 145. It is mainly the center of jute cultivation, jute industry and jute trading in the state.
What is its political history
In 1952, when there was a wave of Congress in the entire country, even then the Congress candidate could not win from here. NC Chatterjee of HMS won in 1952. He defeated the Indian National Congress candidate. CPI’s Provat Kar won in 1957 and 1962. In 1967, the seat was captured by CPI(M) and BK Modak of CPI(M) was elected MP. In 1977 also, BK Modak of CPI(M) was re-elected MP.
In 1980, Roopchand Pal of CPI(M) was victorious. In 1984, Indumati Bhattacharya of Congress had won the election from here. After this CPI(M) made a comeback and Roopchand Pal was elected MP in 1989. Roopchand Pal was elected MP from here as a CPI(M) candidate in 1991, 1996. 1998, 1999 and 2004. In 2009, All India Trinamool Congress candidate Dr. Ratna Dey defeated the six-time CPI(M) leader.
BJP won in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the tables were turned once again and Locket Chatterjee won on BJP ticket by 6 lakh 71 thousand 448 votes. Dr. Ratna Dey of Trinamool Congress got five lakh 98 thousand 086 votes. CPI(M)’s Pradeep Saha had to be satisfied with only 1 lakh 21 thousand 588 votes.
