Diamond Harbour: As seventh and final phase of polling is underway, one constituency which is most in focus due to its past track record of violence is Diamond harbour, the Lok Sabha segment which TMC MP and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee represents.
As alleged incidents of voter intimidation poured in from the constituency, Banerjee, who is seeking re-election from here, cast his vote on Saturday and claimed that the party will fare better this time as compared to that in 2019.
Banerjee, who exercised his franchise at a polling booth in Mitra Institution at Harish Mukherjee Road in Kolkata said TMC will increase both its seat tally and vote share.
Taking to his X handle, Banerjee wrote, "Today, I exercised my right to vote, fulfilling the most important civic duty we all share. I urge you to cast your vote and make your voices heard. For all the deprivation, empty promises, falsehoods, pain, and hate, today is your day to answer."
"I'm repeating whatever I had said before the polls. We will perform better this time and increase both our seat count and vote share in comparison to 2019," he said.
According to Banerjee there is widespread resentment against the present dispensation for withholding dues of the states and spreading lies. People will give a befitting reply when the time comes, he added.
Banerjee is pitted against CPI-M's Pratikur Rahaman and BJP's Abhijit Das. Here, all the seven assembly segments, including six in South 24 Parganas and one in Kolkata, are held by the TMC.
Nestled between Kolkata and the South 24 Parganas district, Diamond Harbour stands as a strategic stronghold for the Trinamool Congress. This seat, led by TMC's de facto number two Banerjee, is touted by the party as a 'model constituency' while the opposition paints it as a 'laboratory of violence'.
In 2019, Banerjee had won this seat with a margin of about 2.4 lakh votes. The seat has been a CPIM stronghold from 1967 to 2009 after which, it came to TMC's kitty with Soumen Mitra.
Banerjee's supporters believe he will bag his third consecutive victory. This, victory with an enhanced margin will surely bolster Banerjee's leadership credentials and consolidate his influence in the party at a time when sharp intra-party fractures have cost the TMC influential leaders like Tapas Roy and Arjun Singh ahead of the ensuing polls. Both have joined BJP.
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