Raiganj: Trinamool, BJP, and Congress lock horns in political switcheroo

In North Dinajpur's Raiganj Lok Sabha constituency, it will be a contest between politicians who have changed sides. Trinamool's Krishna Kalyani, BJP's Kartick Paul and Congress' Imran Ali Ramz, alias Victor, will be vying for voters' trust in the second phase of polling on April 26.

Trinamool's Kalyani had defected from the BJP after winning the 2021 Assembly seat from Raiganj. Kalyani had joined Trinamool in 2022 without resigning from his post. His defection led to much controversy as he was appointed chairman of the public accounts committee of the Assembly by the ruling Trinamool. Trinamool claimed Kalyani was an MLA "from the Opposition".

Raiganj constituency will go to polls on April 26 in the second phase.


The BJP's candidate, Paul, is another party-jumper who defected from Trinamool. He was initially with Congress, but defected to Trinamool and finally got a ticket from the saffron camp in 2024. Paul was former Trinamool municipal chairperson and Congress vice-chairman of the Municipal Board.

Congress candidate Victor started his political career as an All-India Forward Bloc (AIFB) worker, a party which his family followed. Victor is the son of late Mohammad Ramzan Ali, a Forward Bloc leader and four-term legislator from Goalpokhar. His uncle, Hafiz Alam Sairani, was a three-time MLA and a former minister of West Bengal during the Left regime, representing the same constituency. Victor was first elected in a by-election in 2009 from Goalpokhar, and subsequently re-elected from the Chakulia assembly constituency in 2011.

Victor won thrice in Assembly elections as a Forward Bloc candidate from Goalpokhar, but lost to Trinamool in 2021. In 2022, he joined the Congress. He and his family have a strong support base in Goalpokhar.

In this triangular contest, all three sounded equally confident of winning people's support.

In the last Lok Sabha elections, the Raiganj seat was won by Debashree Chaudhuri with a BJP ticket, but this time, she is contesting from Kolkata South. Chaudhuri secured the seat with a margin of 60,574 votes, defeating Trinamool's Agarwal Kanaialal. In 2014, Md. Salim from CPI-M had emerged victorious, defeating Congress candidate Deepa Dasmunsi by a margin of 1,634 votes.

The Raiganj seat comprises seven Assembly seats. The Hemtabad and Kaliaganj Assembly seats are reserved for the Scheduled Castes, while Islampur, Gopalpokhar, Chakulia, Karandighi and Raiganj are general seats.

Although the BJP had won from Raiganj in 2019, out of the seven Assembly seats in this constituency, six--Islampur, Goalpokhar, Chakulia, Karandighi, Hemtabad and Raiganj-have been with the Trinamool since the 2021 Assembly polls, while only one seat-Kaliaganj--has had a BJP legislator, Soumen Roy. Roy had joined Trinamool in 2021 after winning the seat on a BJP ticket but returned to the BJP earlier this year.

Unique enough, Trinamool has never won the Raiganj Lok Sabha seat. From 1962 to 1989, the seat was won by Congress. In 1991,1996 and 1998, it was won by the CPM, but Congress leader Priya Ranjan Dasmushi took the seat in 1999 and 2004. After Dasmushi's illness, his wife Deepa Dasmunshi won the seat in 2009. In 2014, Left candidate Mohammed Salim won it but it was again captured by the BJP in 2019.