As the West Bengal Assembly elections are drawing closer, quite a few new faces can be seen in the fray seeking the support of the electorate.
Both the Left and the main Opposition have fielded new faces. In the Trinamool Congress, the thrust seems to be on artists, young and old. The party has also put in the race bureaucrats, including a former Chief Secretary and former IPS officers. The Left has given ticket to a record number of new entrants, who have political backgrounds.
Keeping up with the trend it introduced during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, the Trinamool has fielded Debashree Roy, who acted in a national award winning film directed by Rituparno Ghosh, as also thespian Bratya Basu, yesteryear Bengali film hero Chiranjit, and Anup Ghosal, who has sung in Ray movies.
Among the former bureaucrats and retired IPS officers fielded by the Trinamool are the former Chief Secretary Manish Gupta, the high-profile IPS officer Upen Biswas, who was associated with the fodder scam investigations in 1996, and at least four other former IPS officers — Sultan Singh, H.A. Safwi, Rachpal Singh and Abani Joardar.
Among the Left's new candidates is 25-year old Satarup Ghosh, who is the youngest in the fray. He has risen through student politics. He is taking on senior senior Trinamool leader Javed Khan. Fuad Halim, son of Hasim Abdul Halim, Speaker of the now prorogued 14th Assembly, faces Trinamool veteran Subrata Mukherjee. His father is not seeking re-election.
While many expect that this election will be a turning point for the State, an uneasy quiet prevails as the elections are set to take place under an unprecedented security cover. The usual noise and din, and the high-pitched election fervour are missing to some extent what with Election Commission curbs on graffiti, use of microphones and election expenses. The restrictions on microphones have since been eased.
Keen contests
However, some of the fights have already attracted much attention, as much for the contestants as for the constituencies involved. Among these is the battle between Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and his former Chief Secretary, Mr. Manish Gupta in Jadavpur (Mr. Bhattacharjee's home constituency.).
No less interesting to watch is the contest between Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta, who is defending his turf in Khardah in North 24 Parganas district, and Amit Mitra, a former secretary-general of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
The Congress has not fielded too many new faces but Abhijit Mukherjee, its candidate in Birbhum district's Nalhati, promises to be a show-stopper. Mr. Abhijit Mukherjee, who quit his job as a general manager of Steel Authority of India Ltd., admits that he is a greenhorn in politics, but none can deny him the advantages of his lineage — he is the son of Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
