As elections in Calcutta draw near, the two heavyweight candidates in Bhabanipur are set to spend more time in the constituency, stepping up rallies, door-to-door outreach and local meetings, sources in the Trinamool Congress and the BJP said.
Mamata Banerjee is contesting against her former party colleague and current leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari.
With the first phase of polling over, both sides are reworking their schedules. “As the first phase ended on Thursday, Didi will now have more time for her own constituency,” a Trinamool leader said.
On Thursday, 152 constituencies across 16 districts went to the polls; on April 29, 142 constituencies across seven will vote.
Mamata is likely to participate in rallies across Chetla, Alipore and Bhabanipur, visit a Jain temple and hold meetings with community groups. She is also scheduled to walk in a rally from Jadavpur to Gopalnagar on April 27, the last day of campaigning for the second phase.
Trinamool leaders said she will campaign across Bengal during the day and focus on Bhabanipur in the evenings. Throughout her state-wide campaign, Mamata has repeatedly urged voters to view her as the Trinamool candidate across all 294 constituencies.
She began her Bhabanipur campaign on Sunday with a meeting at Ladies Park with members of various communities. On Monday, she visited housing complexes along Shakespeare Sarani and Lord Sinha Road, interacting with residents.
“On Thursday, she participated in a rally from Kansaripara Sitalamandir to Patuapara. On Friday, she is likely to visit a Jain temple in Bhabanipur, and on Saturday, she is expected to visit Odiyapara and Chakraberia,” a leader said.
Suvendu is expected to shift his focus fully to Bhabanipur from Friday. “He has indicated he will station himself in the constituency and campaign across Bhabanipur,” a BJP leader said. “It is possible he will not campaign elsewhere for the second phase and will concentrate entirely on Bhabanipur.” His detailed schedule is expected to be finalised by Friday.
Bhabanipur has 1,60,318 voters and comprises wards 63, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 77 and 82 of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation. The constituency stretches from Bhabanipur-Chakraberia in the east to Alipore-Ekbalpore-Kidderpore in the west, with Chetla to the south and the Maidan to the north.
Mamata won the Bhabanipur Assembly seat by a record margin of 58,832 votes in the September 2021 bypoll. However, in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the Trinamool’s lead over the BJP in this segment of the Calcutta South
constituency narrowed to 8,297 votes.
In the 2021 Assembly elections, Mamata and Suvendu faced each other in Nandigram, where Suvendu won by a margin of just under 2,000 votes, a result Mamata had contested, alleging irregularities.