What: Ward 17 of the Siliguri Municipal Corporation will be a must-watch on April 25.

Why: Sukla Deb, the wife of north Bengal development minister Gautam Deb, is contesting here. She will take on CPM candidate Papri Sengupta. Gautam Deb is the former councillor of the ward, so Sukla's win would be a personal vindication of his work as councillor. The minister's residence is in this ward.

Where: Collegepara

Voters: 4,345

Earlier polls: Gautam Deb of Trinamul defeated Kaushik Karmakar of the Left Front by 658 votes in 2009. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Trinamul secured a lead in the ward.

This time: Sukla's rivals are CMP's Papri Sengupta, the Congress's Senjuti Das and the BJP's Tanima Ghosh.

Demography: Mostly Bengali-speaking residents from middle and higher-income homes.

Trinamul speaks: Sukla said: "I am contesting for the first time but for the past 25 years, I have seen politics from up close because my husband is an active political worker. People have seen the development work and the constant service provided to them by the north Bengal development minister for the past four years and also before that, when he was the councillor. The reciprocation is spontaneous."

She added: "I am confident of a win. Our contest is with the Left. Residents will surely stand by me and other Trinamul candidates knowing that the facade of Siliguri would change if Trinamul is voted to power."

CPM counters: Papri said: "It is the question of availability and providing service to people throughout the year, and I believe I have done my best in all these years (past 25-30 years). My contender is a new entrant and I doubt how much time she would be able to give for the development of the ward."

She added: "I don't feel any pressure because my contender is a minister's wife. My contest is virtually against the minister and I have received good response at the door-to-door campaigns."