Perhaps no other Assembly bypoll has ever generated so much interest and excitement as the Bhawanipore bypoll being held on Sunday where chief minister Mamata Banerjee is in the fray. Although her victory is a foregone conclusion, still the people are keenly watching the contest to see if she
succeeds in winning with a record margin or not. The CPI(M) which is reconciled to its fate has pitted a political greenhorn academician Nandini Mukherjee against Ms Banerjee. Bhawanipore is a new constituency which was created ahead of the 2011 Assembly election. It is spread over eight wards of Kolkata Municipal Corporation — 63,70,71,72,73,74,77 and 82. Out of these eight wards, only ward number 77 has a Left Front councillor and the remaining seven are in Trinamul Congress’ control. In other words, the party has overwhelming dominance in the Bhawanipore Assembly constituency. In the Assembly election five months ago, party president Subrata Bakshi had won this seat defeating CPI(M) candidate Narayan Jain by nearly 50,000 votes. The point of interest among the voters of Bhawanipore is whether Ms Banerjee’s victory margin crosses one lakh mark or not.
If the turnout in her two road shows in the run up to the bypoll was any indication, then Ms Banerjee whose house is also located in the same constituency, is on the threshold of creating a record.