Trinamool gains from stardom, glamour fails BJP
By IANS |
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Trinamool Congress. (File Photo: IANS). Image Source: IANS News
Kolkata, May 2 : In a star-studded Assembly election battle in West Bengal, in which both the ruling Trinamool Congress and the principal opponent BJP fielded more than a dozen actors and actresses as candidates, the trends seem to show that while the Trinamool has successfully reaped the advantage of stardom, the saffron party has failed to capitalise on the glamour quotient.
Tollygunge was considered by many as one of the toughest seats for the Trinamool, where the BJP fielded singer-turned-politician MP Babul Supriyo against seasoned campaigner Arup Biswas.
The tollywood actress from TMC who contested from Medinipur constituency secured 52.13% votes. She stood against BJP candidate Samit Kumar who secured 40.49%
From heavyweight leaders to celebrities, stakes are high in the fourth phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections that will be held on Saturday. In Phase-IV, 44 constituencies from the districts of Cooch Behar, Alipurduar, Howrah, Hooghly and South 24 Parganas are going to polls. A total of 1,15,81,022 electorates will decide the fate of 373 candidates in this phase. Among the most high-profile contests, one is the Tollygunge constituency, where BJP has fielded Union Minister Babul Supriyo against sitting TMC MLA Aroop Biswas. Biswas, also a minister in the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal cabinet has been representing the Tollygunge Assembly constituency for the last three terms. Worth mentioning, Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan campaigned for TMC candidate Aroop Biswas. CPI(M) has fielded Debdut Ghosh from the seat.
Can celebrities help the Trinamool defeat the BJP?
Mamata Banerjee has fallen back on a tried and tested strategy of fielding well-known faces as party candidates. Filmmaker Raj Chakraborty and other Trinamool celebrity candidates with party MP Derek O Brien. | Twitter
On Sunday, headlines out of poll-bound West Bengal were dominated by the news of actor Mithun Chakraborty joining the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the prime minister’s rally in Kolkata.
But when it comes to the celebrity quotient, the Trinamool Congress is not far behind.
On Friday, as Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee announced her party’s candidate list for the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections, a television news channel broadcast images from the office of Bengali film director Raj Chakraborty, who sat watching the chief minister’s press conference with a few actors.