Kolkata North: Bengal's most talked about electoral battle

West Bengal possibly for the first time is set to witness a four-cornered battle this Lok Sabha election, and the most fierce one is in the heart of the city, the North Kolkata constituency.

In the clash of titans, the sitting MP and Trinamool Congress chief whip in the Lok Sabha, Sudip Bandopadhaya, is being challenged by CPI-M's Rupa Bagchi, Congress strongman, Somen Mitra and BJP's state President,Rahul Sinha.

"All my opponents are heavyweights," says CPI-M 's Rupa Bagchi,a local councillor.

In the 2009 elections, Trinamool's leader in Lok Sabha Sudip Bandyopadhyay won the Kolkata North seat by a little less than 100,000 margin and as per the 2011 assembly poll, the margin is now more than 2,60,000 votes.

Yet, Kolkata north is the most talked about electoral battle in Bengal, -- precisely because of Somen Mitra -- one of the few Bengal Congressmen with a mass following. Mitra - who had been a Congress MLA for three decades from the Sealdah Assembly constituency, which is a part of the Kolkata North Lok Sabha seat - rallied behind TMC in 2009.

Mitra is not only back to the Congress fold, but unlike his fellow Congressmen-- who were unwilling to contest Lok Sabha elections -- the "tiger"of Congress himself took up the challenge to fight the Lok Sabha election and was the first among the four candidates to start his campaign.

Sudip Bandopadhayay believes "Somen Mitra factor is being over exaggerated," pointing that out all seven assembly segments in the constituency -- Chowringhee, Shyampukur, Jorabagan, Entally, Beliaghata, Maniktala and Cossipore-Belgachhia belong to TMC. But the fact lies, in 2011 assembly elections, the TMC had the support of Congress,and Somen Mitra too was in TMC. In fact, the Chowringhee assembly is still held by Somen Mitra's wife and and rebel TMC leader, Sikha Mitra.

Besides, BJP too, has its dedicated votebank in the Marwari pockets of Burrabazar and Posta areas of the constituency. With a so-called Narendra Modi wave and the surveys predicting a substantial increase in BJP's vote share in the state, BJP state president Rahul Sinha too has his chances.