Silchar, the largest Assembly constituency of Barak Valley, is swinging between two young and dynamic scions of political families.

Locking horns for this high-profile seat are Congress candidate Susmita Dev, 38, daughter of Congress stalwart and former Union minister Sontosh Mohan Dev, and BJP candidate Rajdeep Roy, 40, son of two-time BJP legislator (late) Bimalangshu Roy, who died two years ago.

Both Susmita and Rajdeep are very modern in their outlook, well educated and articulate and the 1,95,100 electorate of Silchar will have the daunting task of choosing one of them as their representative on April 4.

Susmita, a London-educated lawyer, was groomed in politics under the guardianship of her parents in her present stint as the chairman of Silchar municipality and is preparing to take over the mantle from her mother, Bithika Dev, who currently represents the constituency. Rajdeep is an orthopaedic surgeon who has practised in Delhi and Calcutta.

Both have adopted development as their battle cry, being well aware of the anger being nursed by the voters against politicians for ditching them on the non-development lane, even in urban areas.

The urban voters are miffed because the development funds meant for Silchar have been allegedly siphoned off by a coterie of contractors, middlemen, government officials and political bigwigs, leaving the town with roads full of potholes and dilapidated bridges, among other things.

Dibanath Paul, 56, who owns a cosmetics shop on the busy Hospital Road in Silchar town, had heaved a sigh of relief when the 2.9km throughway linking Hospital Road with Sonai Road and Club Road was renovated. His business had been suffering for months with customers avoiding the potholed road in front of his shop. The hope, however, died when other residents, including a retired PWD engineer, pointed out that the Rs 2.8-crore renovation was sub-standard and would not last long.

The cantilever bridge over the Barak, considered a landmark in the town, has also been sucked in the development vacuum, with the Centre yet to approve the engineering survey for the Rs 4-crore scheme to renovate the bridge.

Against this scenario, the two candidates have rolled up their sleeves to convince the electorate.

Rajdeep is focussing his ire on the “standstill and pitiable” state of various development projects in and around Silchar, alleging that “the lack of a proper delivery mechanism” had subverted many of the cash-spinning schemes. Portraying Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar as his role model, he promises to usher in a transparent development initiative, if elected to the Assembly.

He also promises to check infiltration of Bangladeshis across the border, which, he alleges, has remained unhindered, and address the latent fear of Hindu refugees of an eviction drive as was made clear by AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh in Cachar and Karimganj districts last month. Susmita is equally worried by the lack of the development in the constituency in particular and the valley districts in general. She promises to wage an indefatigable fight, if elected, to monitor development, particularly the road infrastructure projects.

Alleging a yawning gap in the resource allocation between the Brahmaputra valley and the Barak valley, with the latter getting a raw deal, she promises to try to bridge the chasm. She says Dispur mops up Rs 250 crore from Cachar every year by way of tax collection but in return gives the district a niggardly fund flow for development.

The key to the triumph of any candidate in this multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-ethnic constituency is its 50,000-odd Muslim population. However, over the years, the Muslims are no longer monolithic in their voting behaviour as a majority of them hold variegated political choices.

Quipped Sukkur Ali, 65, a retired government engineer in Berenga near this town: “Muslims now tend to vote not on the basis of religion but on their personal perceptions.”

It is apparent that while voters in the southern flank of the town are more or less inclined towards the BJP, those inhabiting its western and northern parts are now increasingly showing a tilt towards the Congress, making this town a great divide between the two.