‘Party Hopper’ Arjun Singh: BJP Candidate From Barrackpur (image-facebook/Arjun Singh)

Arjun Singh is fielded as the BJP candidate from Barrackpur constituency. The electoral battle in the Barrackpur Lok Sabha constituency in West Bengal will be fiercer than the previous one as Arjun Singh has entered the fray on a BJP ticket. 

Arjun Singh accepted the BJP ticket since TMC chief Mamata Banerjee denied the nomination. Before crossing over to the saffron party from TMC, he said that he felt “betrayed” by Banerjee. 

Born on April 2, 1962, Arjun Singh hails from North 24 Parganas in West Bengal”s Kolkata. His father, Satyanarayan Singh was an active politician from Congress and was a three-time MLA from Bhatpara. 

Arjun started his political career by winning the Bhatpara Municipality Election as councilor from the Congress in 1995. Later, he joined TMC and contested the general election in 2001 as TMC candidate. He has served the Bhatpara Assembly since 2001. 

He has won the Bhatpara seat four times consecutively as TMC candidate. Singh was the president of the “Hindi wing” of Trinamool Congress. 

In March 2019, after joining the saffron party, he contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Barrackpore Parliamentary seat as a BJP candidate and won. Due to some issues he had within the party, Arjun rejoined TMC on 22 May. 

On 15 March 2024, amidst the Lok Sabha election, once again, the “party hopper” joined the saffron party. 

The TMC has fielded its Naihati MLA and state minister Partha Bhowmick, a debutant parliamentary politician hailing from the same district to counter the BJP’s challenge. 

Political analysts have predicted a close fight between the BJP and TMC. Nearly 15 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in Barrackpore which will go to polls on May 20 during the fifth phase of the election.