At the Ballygunge Assembly constituency, old warhorse Subrata Mukherjee of Trinamul is pitted against the CPM’s Fuad Halim, a doctor known for his service for the poor, and the BJP’s Loknath Chatterjee, little known to most electors.
Mukherjee, 74, a 10-term MLA, is a visible face in the area. A veteran of many poll battles, he is known as “efficient” and “accessible”. His personal charisma — he is among the very few in Trinamul who call the party supremo by her first name, Mamata — has also influenced many voters.
Halim, 50, has gained respect among the electorate for his service for the poor and needy, especially during the lockdown last year. The physician said he had provided treatment to over 6,000 people between March and November last year for Rs 50 each.
“I have also organised free eye cataract surgeries for thousands under the aegis of an NGO I have founded with school friends,” Halim told Metro.
A truly cosmopolitan area, the voters in Ballygunge speak Bengali, Hindi and Gujarati, among other languages. There is also a large Muslim electorate.
The constituency, which goes to the polls on Monday, has leafy neighbourhoods like Ballygunge Circular Road and Queens Park, replete with bungalows with large gardens. Glittering sedans roll out of the bungalows every now and then.
Then there are places like Puddapukur and Ballygunge Place, where the traditionally affluent and educated people have been living for years.
CPM candidate Fuad Halim
In stark contrast are the Pearabagan Bustee, near Ballygunge Government High School, and Samsul Huda Road neighbourhoods where one has to squeeze one’s way through a teeming mass.
The aspirations and expectations are as varied.
Samir Gayen, 30, who runs a small automobile repairing shop near Pearabagan, and Ali Khan, 29, who stays off Samsul Huda Road and works as a sales representative at a store, said jobs were their topmost priority.
“I think whoever forms the next government should create more jobs for the youth,” said Ali, who feels Mukherjee will garner the maximum number of votes. “Fuad Halim, too, will get votes because he has always helped people.”
Sumita Chatterjee, 65, an investment consultant who stays on Bondel Road, said people from all communities lived peacefully in Ballygunge.
“I was born here and my husband is from here, too. I have lived here all my life. Just a few minutes from our home, there is an area that is Muslim majority but there has never been any trouble,” she said.
“This is the first time I find there is a planned attempt to remind everyone what their religion is. This will destroy the quiet neighbourhood. It should never happen.”
BJP candidate Loknath Chatterjee Gautam Bose
But the issues that will play at the back of people’s minds when they vote on April 26 could be ones that are not unique to Ballygunge.
A number of voters said the worsening Covid epidemic would affect their voting. Tanushree Bandyopadhyay, a schoolteacher in her mid-30s, was angry at how the epidemic was being tackled.
“We are living in constant fear. What will happen if we get infected? There are no vacant beds at hospitals. Election rallies and other gatherings should have been stopped long ago. I think people will keep in mind who is responsible for the current situation when they vote in the last two phases,” she said.
Chatterjee and Bandyopadhyay both said they were impressed by Halim’s philanthropic activities. Halim had contested from the seat in 2011 but lost to Mukherjee.
None of the voters Metro spoke to had heard of the BJP’s Chatterjee, an advocate at Calcutta High Court and a former student of the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences.
Chatterjee, 30, however, said he had done his bit of campaigning. “I have spoken about our development programmes. I have also campaigned in Muslim-dominated areas where Trinamul supporters have attacked me several times,” he said.
In the 2016 Assembly elections, Mukherjee had defeated the Congress-Left combine’s Krishna Debnath by 15,225 votes.
In the 2019 parliamentary polls, Trinamul’s South Calcutta candidate Mala Roy had taken a lead of 54,452 votes in the Ballygunge Assembly segment over her nearest competitor, Chandra Kumar Bose of the BJP.
Residents said they had seen Mukherjee and Halim campaign, but not many had seen Chatterjee of the BJP.
“I am an old-school politician. I go door to door and seek votes. People have a sense of pride in voting and I respect that. I do not bring celebrities and stars to campaign for me,” Mukherjee said while visiting voters at a slum in Puddapukur on Friday morning.
He was accompanied by six aides.
A section of residents said Halim’s lack of administrative experience could work against him. Mukherjee, on the other hand, is still remembered for his work as Calcutta’s mayor from 2000 to 2005.
“The Left Front was in power in the state and the Calcutta Municipal Corporation was run by the Trinamul-BJP alliance. Mukherjee managed to do a lot of good work without fighting with the state government,” said a voter.
Halim had wrapped up his campaigning by then and
was at the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital, donating plasma for Covid patients.
“Mukherjee has been MLA from Ballygunge for 10 years but done little for the place. There are issues like parking, water scarcity and huge traffic snarls when schools like South Point, BSS and Modern High School for Girls give over. I will try to find a solution to these and many other problems,” said Halim.