Ranaghat seat in Bengal: Trinamool eyes hat-trick in this young constituency

Kolkata, April 11: 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: RANAGHAT

Date of election: April 29 (Phase 4)

The Ranaghat Lok Sabha constituency in Nadia district of Bengal came into existence since 2009 replacing Nabadwip comprises the following seven segments: Nabadwip, Santipur, Ranaghat Uttar Paschim, Krishnaganj (SC), Ranaghat Uttar Purba (SC), Ranaghat Dakshin (SC) and Chakdaha.

What happened in 2014:

The Trinamool Congress retained the seat in 2014 as its candidate Tapas Mandal defeated his nearest rival - Archana Biswas - of the CPI(M) by over two lakh votes. The BJP's Supravat Biswas ended third with 2.3 lakh votes while the Congress's Pratap Kanti Roy ended fourth with 92k votes.

Total electors in Ranaghat constituency in 2014 were 15.9 lakh.

Vote share:

The TMC's vote-share in 2014 was 43.62 per cent while the Left got 28.71 per cent. The BJP's vote-share was 17.26 per cent. The Congress's vote-share was only 6.81 per cent.

History of Ranaghat constituency results: TMC won both terms

The now-defunct Nabadwip constituency was once dominated by the CPI(M) with the TMC winning it only once, in 1999. However, after the new constituency of Ranaghat came, the ruling party has won it both in 2009 and 2014.

Candidates contesting from Ranaghat in 2019:

• TMC: Rupali Biswas;
• Left: Rama Biswas;
• BJP: Jagannath Sarkar;
• Congress: Minati Biswas