Bengal: Can BJP snatch Kolkata Dakshin, once a seat of Mamata Banerjee?

Kolkata, April 17: The schedule for the 17th Lok Sabha election was announced by the Election Commission on Sunday, March 10. The election will be held in seven phases between April 11 and May 19 with the results to be declared on May 23. Of all the states in the country, West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh will witness elections in seven phases.

Here we take a look at all the Lok Sabha constituencies (42) of Bengal and how parties have fared there over the years.

Constituency: KOLKATA DAKSHIN

Date of election: May 19 (Phase 7)

The Kolkata Dakshin Lok Sabha constituency is located in southern part of Kolkata and comprises the following segments: Kasba, Behala Purba, Behala Paschim, Kolkata Port, Bhabanipur, Rashbehari and Ballygunge.

What happened in 2014:

TMC's Subrata Bakshi won the seat defeating his nearest candidate Tathagata Roy of the BJP by 1.36 lakh votes (4.31 lakh to 2.95 lakh). The CPI(M)'s Nandini Mukherjee finished third with 2.78 lakh votes and the Congress's Mala Roy ended up fourth with 11.3 lakh votes.

Total electors in Kolkata Dakshin constituency in 2014 were 16.63 lakh.

Vote share:

The TMC's vote-share in 2014 was 37 while the BJP got 25.29 per cent. The CPI(M) received 23.83 per cent vote share while the Congress got 9.71 per cent.

History of Kolkata Dakshin constituency results: The former seat of Mamata Banerjee is a TMC stronghold now

Kolkata Dakshin was once the seat of Shyama Prasad Mookerjee of Bharatiya Jana Sangh (the seat was then called Calcutta South-East) and since 1991, Mamata Banerjee won it six times (twice as Congress candidate) in a row till 2011 when she became the chief minister. Subrata Bakshi became the MP from this seat in the by-election of 2011 and retained it in 2014.

Candidates contesting from Kolkata Dakshin in 2019:

• TMC: Mala Roy;
• Left: Nandini Mukherjee;
• BJP: Anupam Hazra;
• Congress: Chandra Kumar Bose