Mamata to battle it out again in Kolkata South

The prestigious Kolkata South constituency, from where Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee is contesting for the sixth time in a row, has undergone a sea change after delimitation with five new assembly segments added to it.

Mamata would face her old Communist Party of India-Marxist rival Rabin Deb from the seat in the May 13 Lok Sabha poll. The constituency, bordering Jadavpur on one side and Kolkata North on the other, has in the past elected prominent Congress leaders like Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi and Bhola Nath Sen, besides CPI-M leader Ganesh Ghose.

Since 1972, this constituency did not elect the same person twice, but Mamata was the only exception winning the seat five consecutive times. P R Dasmunshi had won the seat for Congress in 1972 and Dilip Chakraborty of Bharatiya Lok Dal in 1977 riding the Janata party wave.

CPI-M's Satyasadhan Chakraborty wrested it in 1980, while Bhola Sen of the Congress and Biplab Dasgupta of CPI-M won it in 1984 and 1989 respectively.

After delimitation, the constituency would miss assembly segments like Chowringhee and Alipur in the heart of the metropolis, besides Tollygunj and semi-urban Sonarpur.

The new inclusions are Kasba, Behala East and Behala West mostly dominated by the urban middle class and Kolkara Port which has a substantial number of Muslim voters.

Currently, TC holds three assembly segments -- Rashbehari, Ballygunj and Behala West and CPI-M Behala East.

Despite the major change in the character of the constituency, Mamata, fondly called Didi, expressed confidence of making a second hat-trick from the seat.

 Speaking at a party workers' meeting recently, she in an obvious reference to the CPI-M said, "They have totally changed the profile of my constituency, but I will campaign throughout the state to oust the Marxists."

Ever since Banerjee moved into this constituency in 1991 after her defeat in neighbouring Jadavpur in 1989, in every Lok Sabha election she has secured over 50 per cent votes.

Compared to previous elections since 1991, however, her vote share came down to 50.93 in 2004, while CPI-M candidate Rabin Deb bagged 38.19 per cent. She had received over 58 per cent votes in 1999.

Even the Congress which had put up its candidate against Mamata in the last three polls in 1998, 99 and 2004, when TC had an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party, could manage to get barely six to seven per cent votes in the seat. As she moved out of the National Democratic Alliance and struck an alliance with Congress this time, BJP has named its women's wing president Jyotsna Banerjee as the party candidate against her.