Lok Sabha election 2019: CPI(M) won Congress bastion Raiganj by1,634 votes in 2014

Kolkata, March 20: 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: RAIGANJ

Date of election: April 18 (Phase 2)

Since 2009, Raiganj Lok Sabha constituency comprises seven segments and they are: Islampur; Goalpokhar; Chakulia; Karandighi; Hemtabad (SC); Kaliaganj (SC) and Raiganj.

What happened in 2014:

In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, the CPI(M) won from Raiganj after a gap of 15 years as their candidate Mohammad Salim won by a narrow margin of 1,634 votes over his nearest rival,

Deepa Dasmunshi of the Congress. It was one of the two seats that the Left won in the state that year. Salim received 3,17,515 votes while Dasmunsi got 3,15,881 votes.

The BJP's actor candidate Nimu Bhowmick finished third with just over two lakh votes while the ruling TMC ended fourth with its candidate Pabitra Ranjan Dasmunsi - brother-in-law of Deepa -- receiving 1.92 lakh votes. The TMC though managed to eat into the votes of the Congress, which has dominated Raiganj over the years, helping the Left to win.

Total electors in Raiganj constituency in 2014 were 13,83,281.

Vote share:

The CPI(M)'s vote-share in this election was 28.7 per cent while the Congress finished a close second with 28.5 per cent vote-share. The BJP's vote-share was 18.3 per cent while that of the TMC was 17.4 per cent.

History of Raiganj constituency results: The Left wins after 15 years

Raiganj has always been a Congress stronghold. Known as West Dinajpur constituency in the 1952 and 1957 elections, Raiganj saw the Grand-Old Party winning there between 1952 and 1971 at a stretch. In 1977, the Bharatiya Lok Dal won but the Congress was back in 1980 and continued till 1991.

It was the CPI(M) which won for three consecutive terms between 1991 and 1999 before late Union minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi won two consecutive terms in 1999 and 2004. His wife Deepa then succeeded him in 2009 after Priya Ranjan fell ill. The TMC is yet to win this seat.

Candidates contesting from Raiganj this time:

TMC: Kanaia Lal Agarwal;

Left: Mohammad Salim;

Congress: Deepa Dasmunshi