The narrow road through Sandeshkhali market, part of the Barsirhat Lok Sabha seat that votes on Saturday, is decorated with flags of the BJP, the Trinamool Congress and the CPM.

Graffiti on a giant wall bears the name of BJP nominee Rekha Patra, surprisingly in Hindi, although there are ones in Bengali as well.

There have been over 100 small meetings, processions and protests by the three rival parties in the past two months.

Arrests, conspiracy theories and counter theories, alleged sting videos, non-stop media coverage, Patra’s nomination, and many more incidents made this election unlike any other that the remote Sunderbans island, 80km away from Calcutta, has ever witnessed.

“Erokom vote Sandeshkhali aagey dyakheni (Never before has Sandeshkhali seen such an election),” said 30-year-old Sumita Patra, looking up from grinding spices.

From one corner of the island to another, Sumita's sentiment reverberates.

Although the island is part of the Sandeshkhali gram panchayat with 12,000-odd voters, and a tiny pocket of the Basirhat Lok Sabha constituency, it is hogging the limelight in the last phase of the election, in which eight other Lok Sabha seats will also vote.

“We were not allowed to cast our votes for long. So this is not any other election for us. This election will show the power of poor people. We have to give a befitting reply to the oppression of Sheikh Shahjahan (former Trinamool strongman) and his men,” added homemaker Sumita, who participated in the movement against Shahjahan and his aides that accusing them of various forms of oppression, sexual harassment and land grab.

Sandeshkhali, which saw Trinamool hegemony since the party ascended to power in Bengal in 2011, made headlines since February 7, when hundreds of women took to the streets against the alleged atrocities.

The movement gained traction, resulting in the arrests of Shahjahan, his aides Shib Prasad Hazra and Uttam Sardar.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Trinamool received 1,03,600 votes from the Sandeshkhali Assembly segment and the BJP bagged a handsome 76,688. In the 2021 Assembly elections, Trinamool’s Sukumar Mahata secured 1,12,450 votes, but the BJP’s Bhaskar Sardar managed 72,765.

Jadunath Maity, who runs a small photocopy store at Sandeshkhali market, said this was an election without Shahjahan,which is why the wind was blowing differently. People are confident of witnessing a free and fair — perhaps not peaceful — election.

“This time, this is not only a mere election to elect an MP. It is an election to elect a woman from our home, Rekha Patra, and to answer all Trinamool wrongdoings,” said Maity, claiming that the Sandeshkhali movement made Trinamool lose its grip on the area.

However, much water has flowed under the Kalindi, which separates the island from the mainland, since May 4 when Trinamool national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee released a “sting operation” video where BJP mandal president Gangadhar Kayal allegedly said the women of Sandeshkhali were given ₹2,000 each to file complaints of sexual abuse under instructions of BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari.

More such videos surfaced — none of which this newspaper has independently verified — making Trinamool allege that the entire episode was a BJP ploy.

Since then, many women who were part of the movement distanced themselves.

“Yes, many (protesters) were purchased by Trinamool. But we will show the power of the poor people of Sandeshkhali,” said Sumita, a neighbour of Rekha Patra.

Shibu Das, 50, and a sharecropper in Sandeshkhali, said the BJP did not give them anything apart from support to the movement.

“The criminals were arrested. Didi (Mamata Banerjee) never told them to torture people. She gives Lakshmir Bhandar (dole) to my wife and my daughter-in-law. Why will we choose the BJP?” he asked.

Trinamool and BJP leaders are leaving no stone unturned to woo Sandeshkhali voters. For them, getting a lead from Sandeshkhali gram panchayat and Assembly segment is a prestige issue.

Prominent BJP leaders, including state party chief Sukanta Majumdar, Adhikari and a battery of seniors from Delhi, visited Sandeshkhali. Prime Minister Narendra Modi could not visit the island for security reasons but kept the focus on Sandeshkhali in his Bengal campaign.

Trinamool’s local two-time MLA Sukumar Mahata, campaigning for the party's Basirhat candidate, Haji Nurul Islam, admitted he worked more for this election than his own. "I worked from dawn to dusk...," he said.