Trinamul has fielded a candidate in Darjeeling in this Lok Sabha elections, but no Trinamul flags flutter in the hills.

Gopal Lama, a former WBCS officer and a member of the Darjeeling-based Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM), is Trinamul's candidate.

However, Lama, who started his campaign early on March 12, has so far held a road show in Darjeeling hills only once while filing his nominations on March 28.

In the past 25-odd days of campaigning, Lama has been concentrating solely on the plains of the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat. There are four Assembly segments of the Darjeeling parliamentary seat in the plains and three in the hills.

“It is a conscious decision,” admitted a leader of the BGPM, which is supporting Trinamul in the Darjeeling hills, when asked about Lama and Trinamul keeping a low profile in the hills.

“There is still a strong trust deficit between the hills (for Trinamul)," said a political observer. Trinamul, as everyone in the hills knows, does not support the region's demand for Gorkhaland to be carved out of Bengal. Trinamul has never won the Darjeeling seat either.

The BGPM has come up with publicity materials with a maroon-yellow-grey background and a photograph of Lama and Trinamul symbol of two flowers with grass.

However, the green and orange colours of Trinamul's symbol as well as the party’s blue and white colour scheme are missing from the publicity materials.

BGPM flags are often seen fluttering in the poll meetings and rallies in the hills, the observer added.

Sources said that BGPM chief Anit Thapa had clearly told the Trinamul leadership that he would solely lead the campaign in the hills.

In his address, Thapa stresses that his party has its own candidate. Lama joined the BGPM just before his name was announced as the Trinamul candidate.

“We (the hill-based BGPM) cannot win the election alone as there are four Assembly segments in the plains. However, we have our own candidate,” said Thapa during an election campaign in Kurseong.

Thapa is confident of a large share of the votes from the hills going by the BGPM's "organisational strength".

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP's Raju Bista polled 7.5 lakh votes which accounted for 59.19 per cent of the votes polled. Trinamul candidate Amar Singh Rai had in the same election polled 3.3 lakh votes or 26.5 per cent of the total votes polled.