On Wednesday evening, the BJP office on Bangchatra Road in Cooch Behar town presented a study in contrast: a humble, work-in-progress building steeped in corporate culture.

The office, fortified with central force jawans and swamped by safari-clad, stone-faced men, bustled. Scores of men and women formed small huddles in the rows of rooms on the first floor of the under-construction building.

The size of the gathering outside the last room suggested its occupant was an important person. The occupant, too, seemed to believe so.

“The people of Cooch Behar feel proud that someone from their area is a pan-Indian politician, playing a role in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s team,” said Nisith Pramanik, BJP nominee for Cooch Behar and junior minister for home and youth affairs-sports.

“Earlier, projects in Cooch Behar used to be inaugurated remotely from Delhi. Now, I inaugurate projects across the country remotely from Cooch Behar.”

From opening 100-odd Khelo India centres to successfully organising the national winter games in Kashmir, Pramanik rolled out a long list of his accomplishments as a “pan-Indian politician”.

“My victory margin will be higher than last time,” the 38-year-old declared with a swagger around 36 hours before voting starts on Friday morning for the first phase of the general election.

Over 56 lakh voters in Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar — the three most backward districts in Bengal — will vote in the first phase.

Although the BJP won all three seats in 2019 with handsome margins – 54,231 in Cooch Behar, 243,989 in Alipurduar and 184,004 in Jalpaiguri — an all-out effort by the Trinamool Congress this time has injected a strong element of contest.

The stakes are the highest in Cooch Behar, turned into a prestige battle with both sides loosening their pursestrings like never before.

The Election Commission has deployed over 112 companies of central forces in Cooch Behar, the highest in the first phase of the polls in Bengal, because of a history of violence in the constituency.

Two days before the polling, the Trinamool office in Cooch Behar’s New Town area presented a contrast to the BJP’s. There was no extravagant security, just a handful of people loitering about in a relaxed atmosphere.

Trinamool district president Avijit De Bhowmik was busy with his two phones, taking stock of cadre deployment in the 2,043-odd booths in the constituency.

“No one here is interested in what Nisith has done across the country…. He has to answer (the question) what he has done for the people of Cooch Behar,” said the man in a white cotton shirt, a blue scarf wrapped around his neck.

“People know that their MP did not deliver. He used to talk about a separate state, about a Narayani regiment in the army for Rajbanshi people. He has gone silent on these issues. Compare this with how Mamata Banerjee has made life easier for people with her micro-level interventions.”

Trinamool’s keenness on defeating Nisith, a turncoat who won from Cooch Behar in 2019 within months of switching over to the BJP, is palpable.

The BJP’s grip on Cooch Behar got tighter in the summer of 2021 when it bagged seven of the nine Assembly seats in the district. In February last year, Bengal’s ruling party launched its mission to recover lost ground.

Party national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee held a meeting in Mathabhanga, at the centre of the Cooch Behar constituency, and initiated corrective actions. Since then, Trinamool has taken both political and administrative measures to try and stage a comeback.

The party told the leaders of the three local factions — north Bengal development minister Udayan Guha, his predecessor in the ministry Rabindranath Ghosh, and former MP Partha Pratim Roy — they would have to work together to ensure the victory of party nominee Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia.

“Both Didi and Abhishek conveyed to them that their political careers would be over if their squabbling affected our performance,” a source said.

On the administrative front, the ruling establishment took a series of steps — over and above implementing the state welfare schemes efficiently — that met longstanding demands rooted in local sentiment.

It granted recognition to 200 Rajbanshi schools, erected a statue to Rajbanshi hero Chila Roy, created a Narayani battalion in the police and sanctioned a road over-bridge in Haldibari.

These steps, Bhowmik claimed, won over a large section of the indigenous Rajbanshi population that makes up around 40 per cent of the electorate and was largely with the BJP in 2019.

“Nisith’s victory last time was a fluke; he will be taught a lesson,” Bhowmik said in between phone calls.

Asked to comment on the Trinamool claim, Nisith, a Rajbanshi himself, smiled: “We have Modiji and that’s enough for us.”

Indeed, all the BJP’s campaigning here revolved round the Prime Minister: “Modiji gave us connectivity”, “Modiji made a Rajbangshi a minister”, “Modiji made India an economic powerhouse”….

“Yes, the fight is with Modi,” Bhowmik said.

Some 60km from the high-decibel contest for Cooch Behar, Manoj Tigga, BJP candidate for Alipurduar, presented a calm and composed picture. Much like the landscape itself with its serene tea gardens and breathtaking forests, the blue Bhutan hills forming the background.

“The election here is being held in a friendly environment,” Tigga, who has replaced sitting MP John Barla, said with a smile.

“This is a peaceful area,” the MLA from Birpara added, before heaping praise on his rival, Prakash Chik Baraik, whom Trinamool had sent to the Rajya Sabha last year.

The Trinamul machinery too is respectful of Tigga, a two-time MLA known to have good personal ties across the political spectrum.

Tigga couldn’t stop talking about “Modiji and his love for north Bengal”, but seemed uncomfortable when asked why the Centre had failed to keep its promise of opening the closed tea gardens.

Several tribal people this correspondent spoke to --- Alipurduar is a reserved Scheduled Tribe seat with an over 32 per cent tribal population, the highest in the state – said they were happy with Baraik’s nomination. But they seemed ambivalent about who they would vote for.

“We can always vote for Didi in local elections, but this is Modiji’s vote,” a young tea garden worker in Birpara said.

A heavy RSS presence in the area and Modi’s appeal among the tribal communities, who work primarily in the district’s 63 tea gardens, may work in Tigga’s favour.

“We have improved our chances in Alipurduar through welfare schemes like the Lakshmir Bhandar, by giving land rights and homes to tea workers, and by opening crèches and health camps in the tea gardens, but the battle remains tough,” a Trinamool insider said.

Trinamool’s hopes are higher about Jalpaiguri, the constituency from where Abhishek began his Mission Repair via a rally in Dhupguri in July 2022. Since then, the ruling establishment has undertaken several micro-level initiatives, beginning with the announcement of Dhupguri as a subdivision. Two new blocks — New Kranti and Banarhat — have been carved out since, and Mainaguri has been elevated to a municipality.

Trinamool insiders believe the mood has swung decisively in favour of their party since the March 31 storm that ravaged over 2,000 homes in the district and killed at least five people.

Mamata’s promptness in visiting the affected areas the same night and the follow-up action by the administration has raised Trinamool’s stocks in many voters’ eyes.

“We lost everything in the storm; my home and tea stall got flattened. The state government came to the aid of people like us. I have already got Rs 60,000 in two tranches,” said Durjya Mohan Roy from Barnish Kalibari, one of the worst-hit villages.

Roy, a Rajbanshi, said he had been a “big fan” of Modi for years but was in two minds now.

Several people in Jalpaiguri told this correspondent that Mamata’s actions after the storm would make them think hard before deciding who to back: Trinamool’s Nirmal Chandra Roy or BJP candidate Jayanta Roy, who had won in 2019.

In the three constituencies, the consensus seemed to be that the contest would be much closer this time.