Bengal: Former Union minister Sisir Kumar Adhikari looks to complete a hat-trick from Kanthi

Kolkata, April 13: 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: KANTHI

Date of election: May 12 (Phase 6)

The Kanthi Lok Sabha constituency is located in East Midnapore district and comprises the following segments: Chandipur, Patashpur, Kanthi Uttar, Bhagabanpur, Khejuri (SC), Kanthi Dakshin and Ramnagar.

What happened in 2014:

Suvendu Adhikari's father Sisir Kumar Adhikari, a former junior minister at the Centre, won the seat on the TMC's ticket last time by polling 6.76 lakh votes. He beat the CPI(M)'s Tapas Sinha by 2.29 lakh votes. The BJP's Kamalendu Pahari won 1.1 lakh votes to finish third while the Congress's Kunal Banerjee polled 27,230 votes.

Total electors in Kanthi constituency in 2014 were almost 14.82 lakh.

Vote share:

The TMC's vote-share in 2014 was 52.41 per cent while the Left finished with 34.64 per cent. The BJP got 8.60 per cent vote share and the Congress 2.1 per cent.

History of Kanthi constituency results: TMC won what was a CPI(M) bastion in 2009 and retained it in 2014

Once won by parties like the Congress, Praja Socialist Party, Bharatiya Lok Dal and the CPI(M), the TMC won Kanthi for the first time in 1999 only to lose it in the next poll in 2004. In 2009, Sisir Kumar Adhikari won it back and retained in 2014.

Candidates contesting from Kanthi in 2019:

• TMC: Sisir Kumar Adhikari;
• Left: Paritosh Pattanayak;
• BJP: Debashish Samant;
• Congress: Dipak Kumar Das