Will Arup Chakraborty Recover TMC Vote Dip Of The Last General Elections In Bankura?Arup Chakraborty is a sitting Trinamool MLA from Taldangra constituency in Bankura. He is running for the 18th Lok Sabah elections on the TMC ticket. Earlier there were speculations that actor-turned-politician Sayantika Banerjee would be contesting from Bankura on a TMC ticket. Arup Chakraborty is going to face BJP’s sitting MP Subhash Sarkar and Left candidate Nilanjan Dasgupta. The constituency will see the elections on May 25, 2024.
Arup Chakraborty, an alumnus of Ranchi University has declared LLB as his highest educational qualification. Chakraborty was elected as the vice president of Bankura Zila Parishad in 2013. He is the district party president of TMC in Bankura. Last year, he displeased the party leadership by making comments about TMC’s involvement in the Indian freedom struggle. He had attracted flakes over his controversial remark about killing those who want to intrude into their homes at night.
In the last Lok Sabha polls, party heavyweight candidate Subrata Mukherjee was defeated by the BJP’s Subhash Sarkar from the same constituency. For more than three decades from 1980-2014, the Bankura seat was occupied by the Left party. In the last assembly polls in 2021, out of the 7 assembly seats, 4 were won by the BJP candidates. However, it is reported that the BJP lacks organisational strength in the constituency at large and even an anti-Sarkar campaign was carried out on social media. In the last general elections, BJP registered an uptick in the votes by 28.92 percent while TMC votes share decreased by 2.60 percent.
Bankura is a general category seat with a 61.14 percent literacy rate which is far below the national average. As per the 2011 census, out of the total population, 30.81 percent is SC, 11.48 percent are STs and Muslim constitutes 8.04 percent.