 "West Bengal assembly polls: Clash of the economists")
Constituency: Khardah— It has 88,820 male, 80,841 female and a total of 1,69,661 registered voters. The voter turnout in previous election was 87.26 %.
In the landmark 2011 assembly elections, the Trinamool Congress secured a major victory from this seat, even though Khardaha had been a CPI(M) bastion since 1967.
Number of voters: 1,69,661
Date: April 25
Sitting MLA: Amit Mitra (TMC)
Amit Mitra
More From This Section
Party: TMC
On the other side of the Bose family kin, Mamata's loyal minister Amit Mitra is campaigning in Kharda in North 24 Parganas. An 'outsider' to the Trinamool Congress, Amit Mitra was brought in to aid the Trinamool Congress in 2011 from Ficci where he served as the secretary general for 17 years. Mitra has made inroads into the party since. He is the second most important person in the state with portfolios like industry, finance and information technology. A former corporate lobbyist, Mitra has been instrumental in making the Chief Minister's annual investment summits a success.
Strength: In 2011, Khardah, in the suburbs of Kolkata, Duke University alumnus and former FICCI boss Amit Mitra defeated MIT alumnus and veteran columnist Asim Dasgupta with a broad margin of over 26,000 votes, becoming the State Finance Minister. He recorded revenue growth of 100% in the past 5 years to make provisions for development projects.
Weakness: Some residents have voiced discontent with the MLA’s 5-year performance and his alleged improper utilization of funds. While he installed deep tube-wells in the area, his claim to have constructed roads is unclear as the condition of roads still requires heavy work.
He is not a mass leader and Dasgupta beats him in years of political experience.
Asim Dasgupta
Party: CPI(M)
Asim Dasgupta, West Bengal’s Finance Minister from 1987 to 2011 and CPI(M) leader, faced a major blow in 2014 when Amit Mitra overthrew him.
In 2011 Congress got 3% votes in Khardah while in 2014 General Elections, BJP got 11%. The CPI(M) hope that the votes of Left supporters that went to BJP’s box will get back to them this time.
Strength: He was the MLA of Khardah constituency for twenty-four years and beats Mitra in experience. He masterminded the most ambitious tax reform in Indian history since the introduction of the first industry and trading taxes, by introducing the VAT; and enforced numerous road-safety norms in the accident prone constituency.
Weakness: In the General elections of 2014, he contested from Dum Dum, West Bengal but lost to Saugata Roy of TMC. He is also not popular amongst the youth; people seem to have lost faith in the CPI(M) regime.
Who might win?
With a clean image and an impressive background, Mitra is most likely to win.