Kolkata: CPI(M) candidate from Murshidabad Mohammed Salim lost by a massive margin of over 1.60 lakh votes against his nearest rival Congress's Abu Taher Khan.
While Taher polled 682442, Salim got 518227 votes, as the city of Nawabs sprung a surprise the CPI(M) Bengal secretary and Politburo member had not expected.
The task before Salim is daunting of sorts. From being the first boy in 2014, the CPIM has been relegated to the fourth position within a span of barely ten years. The situation turned grave after the 2021 Assembly results were declared. The Left and Congress could not register their mark in any state of the district. But, a silver lining appeared in the Sagardighi Assembly bypolls, after Congress snatched away the seat from Trinamool Congress. The Left-Congress combine was successful in resisting the polarisation of votes. This time again, all eyes are the chemistry between Adhir Chowdhury and Mohammed Salim and its effects on Murshidabad.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha, Trinamool’s Abu Taher romped home with the lion's share of 6,04,346 votes. BJP’s Humayun Kabir finished with 2,47,809 in his kitty, while Abu Hena of the Congress bagged 3,77,929 votes. Incidentally, Badruddoza Khan of the CPI(M) had polled only 1,80,793 votes.
Mohammed Salim faced an ideal triangular contest in his constituency in West Bengal but still ended up losing the contest. His party Communist Party Of India (Marxist), which had ruled West Bengal for 34 years, failed to open its account in this Lok Sabha election too.
