Barrackpore election result: Can Arjun Singh return TMC fire in key Bengal battleground?

Barrackpore Lok Sabha election result 2019: The Barrackpore Lok Sabha constituency is one of the prime seats where turncoats may end up as the deciding factor. BJP has fielded former TMC MLA Arjun Singh as its candidate from the seat while TMC has fielded incumbent MP and former Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi. The other candidates in the fray are Gargi Chatterjee of CPI(M) and Mohammed Alam of the Congress. Voting for the Barrackpore Lok Sabha seat was held in the fifth phase on May 06, 2019. The Lok Sabha election results will be declared on May 23, 2019.

Lok Sabha Election 2019: Full Coverage

In the 2014 general elections, Trivedi defeated CPI(M) candidate Subhashini Ali and polled over 4,79,206 votes in his favour while Ali secured around 2,72,433 votes. In the 2014 elections, there were 12,87,222 registered electorates of which 6,82,366 were male and 6,04,856 were female. The voter turnout in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections was 81.66 per cent. In the 2009 Lok Sabha poll, Dinesh Trivedi of TMC had won the election defeating CPI(M)’s Tarit Baran Topdar.

Barrackpore parliamentary constituency was the stronghold of CPI(M) from 1989 to 2004. In 2009, TMCs Dinesh Trivedi polled 4,28,699 votes in his favour in an election when there was a palpable wave in favour of Mamata Banerjee. There are seven assembly constituencies which fall under the Barrackpore parliamentary constituency- Amdanga, Bijpur, Naihati, Bhatpara, Jagatdal, Noapara and Barrackpur. Except Noapara assembly constituency, all other constituencies were won by TMC in the 2016 state assembly elections.

The Barrackpore parliamentary constituency has around 40 per cent Hindi speaking people of whom a majority are migrant workers from neighbouring Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and work in the small scale cottage and jute industries. In 2019, BJP candidate Arjun Singh is being considered to be popular among the Hindi speaking people of the area. A four- time former TMC legislator, Singh was the chief election manager of Trivedi in 2009 and 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Singh had joined the saffron party in March this year after he was denied a ticket to contest the Lok Sabha elections from the seat by TMC.

The election battle in the Barrackpore parliamentary seat has become highly prestigious for both BJPand the TMC. BJP leader Mukul Roy’s son Subhranshu Roy is a TMC MLA from Bijpur assembly seat which falls under this parliamentary constituency. In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Bijpur had provided the highest lead to the Trinamool Congress among seven assembly seats.

Muscle power is also one of the key factors in this Lok Sabha constituency. Election to the Barrackpore Lok Sabha seat was marred by violence during the voting on May 06, 2019. Several incidents of rigging and violence reported from various areas of the parliamentary seat. Union Minister Prakash Javadekar had accused the TMC of booth capturing and demanded a repoll.