With curtains closing for campaigning for the last leg of the ongoing Lok Sabha polls on Thursday, all the parties in West Bengal made their presence felt on the ground ahead of the polling day on Saturday.
West Bengal is the only state, other than Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, where voting has been ongoing since the first of the seven-phase 2024 general elections.
Even on the last day, Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee led her party’s charge with a 12-kilometre-long march covering the Jadavpur and Kolkata Dakshin constituencies, in support of the party’s candidates Sayani Ghosh and Mala Roy, respectively.
As a testament to her stature as the party’s primary figure and leading campaigner, Banerjee conducted a total of 107 public meetings and roadshows during her electioneering trail for the 2024 polls. Her campaign commenced two months ago in Krishnanagar, where the party had renominated Mahua Moitra.
Interestingly, Moitra accompanied her on the last day of the campaign as well. Hundreds of Trinamool workers and supporters walked behind their leaders in the southern parts of Kolkata on Thursday.
Abhishek Banerjee did two roadshows in Diamond Harbour constituency where he is seeking a third term. A large crowd walked with him in both the rallies where he was seen attacking the Centre for “stopping funds” to West Bengal and on issues of unemployment and inflation.
Meanwhile, BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar and Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari were also on the ground. Majumdar was seen in a joint campaign for the party’s candidate in Dum Dum, Shilbhadra Dutta and Sajal Ghosh of Baranagar assembly, where a simultaneous by-election is scheduled for Saturday. He then did a road show in Jadavpur constituency where the BJP has fielded Anirban Ganguly.
Adhikari, on the other hand, was on a whirlwind electioneering trail on Thursday. He started his day with a roadshow in Barasat for the party’s candidate Swapan Majumdar. He then addressed a rally in Basirhat in support of Rekha Patra before taking part in two consecutive road shows for the BJP’s Kolkata Dakshin and Kolkata Uttar candidates Debasree Chaudhuri and Tapas Roy, respectively.
The CPI(M)’s young Jadavpur candidate Srijan Bhattacharya was seen campaigning in small gatherings and meeting local people on roadsides and tea stalls. In Dum Dum, the party’s contestant and former MP Sujan Chakraborty addressed a press conference.
