Bengal: It’s ex-footballer versus journalist in Howrah constituency this time

Kolkata, April 12: 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: HOWRAH

Date of election: May 6 (Phase 5)

The Howrah Lok Sabha constituency is located in Howrah district. It comprises the following segments: Bally, Howrah Uttar, Howrah Madhya, Shibpur, Howrah Dakshin, Sankrail and Panchla.

What happened in 2014:

Former Indian footballer Prasun Banerjee won by polling 4.88 lakh votes, defeating his nearest rival Sridip Bhattacharya of the CPI(M) by nearly two lakh votes. The BJP's actor candidate George Baker polled 2.48 lakh votes while the Congress's Manoj Kumar Pandey got just over 63,000 votes.

Total electors in Howrah constituency in 2014 were almost 15 lakh.

Vote share:

The TMC's vote-share in 2014 was 43.39 as against the Left's 25.89. The BJP got 22.04 per cent vote share while the Congress got 5.62 per cent.

History of Howrah constituency results: TMC has dominated this seat for some time now

The TMC first won Howrah, which has historically oscillated between the Congress and Left, in 1998 and has retained it since 2009. In 2013, following the death of the sitting MP Ambica Banerjee, Prasun won the by-election defeating Sridip Bhattacharya by around 27k votes.

Candidates contesting from Howrah in 2019:

• TMC: Prasun Banerjee;
• Left: Sumitra Adhikari;
• BJP: Rantidev Sengupta;
• Congress: Suvra Ghosh