TMC To Bet On Shantiram Mahato’s Clear Image In PuruliaShantiram Mahato has got a TMC ticket from Purulia to run for the 18th Lok Sabha elections. He has been trusted by the party leadership to face the current BJP MP Jyotirmay Singh Mahato from the constituency in the upcoming elections.
In Purulia Lok Sabha seat, TMC sees a strong fight, as in 2019, the BJP candidate Jyotirmay Singh Mahato won from here with more than 2.4 lakh votes. The announcement of Shantiram Mahato from Purulia is expected to give tough competition to BJP candidate Jyotirmay Singh Mahato. Shantiram has won MLA seats since 2011 in the state legislative assembly elections however lost to BJP Baneswar Mahato in Balrampur seat by a small margin of 500 votes. In the backdrop of losing elections to the BJP candidate in 2021, Shantiram Mahato moved to the Calcutta High Court challenging the election results.
Trinamool is expecting victory for Santiram as the TMC district president professed his winning by more than two lakh votes considering his acceptance and clear image among the voters. Whereas, BJP president Vivek Ranga targeted him by saying that he did not do anything for the Purulia districts.
Since 1977, the constituency has been a stronghold of CPI (M) till 2011 when AITC won elections Purulia is a general category seat and witnessed 82.28% voter turnout in the year 2019. The literacy rate of the constituency is 55.46 percent which is well below 76.3% of the national average. The SC, ST, and Muslim populations in the constituency is 19.41%, 18.5%, and 7.76% respectively. The rural and urban population in the constituency is 58.67 percent and 41.34 percent respectively.