West Bengal's second date with polls to decide fate of Surjya Kanta Mishra, Manas Bhunia

KOLKATA: West Bengal voters will decide the fate of some prominent leaders, including CPM state party secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra and former Bengal Congress president Manas Bhunia, on Monday.

Mishra is contesting from Narayangarh assembly seat and Bhunia is in the fray at Sabong assembly even as 31 assembly constituencies go to polls in the second part of the first phase of polls in the state.

It’s also an acid test for some rebels such as former CPM MLA Chhaya Dolui, who left the party and joined Trinamool Congress, and Antara Bhattacharjee, former CPM zilla parishad sabhadhipati of West Midnapore district who is fighting this elections as a BJP nominee.

If voters vote exactly as they did in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, then Mishra would be trailing his Trinamool Congress rival by 26,405 votes at Narayangarh seat, which falls under Midnapore Lok Sabha constituency. Now, the CPM and Congress are fighting this assembly polls together. But then, the Congress had got just 4,097 votes from this assembly constituency in 2014.

Mishra is, therefore, in a tight spot and chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s rally at Narayangarh last week — where she came down heavily on the poll adjustment between the CPM and Congress — may have made it worse for the Left leader. BJP, too, is running a strong campaign and PM Modi has already held a massive rally at Kharagpur.