West Bengal Phase-4 elections: From Babul Supriyo to Mohd. Salim, here are 5 key battles

After three high-voltage phases, Bengal alone is set to polls on April 10 with 44 seats up for grabs where 373 candidates are in fray. With polling to be held across Cooch Behar, Alipurduar, Howrah and Hooghly districts, key candidates in the fray include three BJP MPs - Babul Supriyo, Locket Chatterjee, Nisith Pramanik and several turncoats Baishali Dalmiya, Rajib Banerjee etc. Polling for the phase-IV will begin at 7 am and will conclude at 6.30 pm with results being declared on May 2.

The seats in fray are - Mekliganj, Mathabhanga, Coochbehar Uttar, Coochbehar Dakshin, Sitalkuchi, Sitai, Dinhata, Natabari, Tufanganj, Kumargram, Kalchini, Alipurduars, Falakata, Madarihat, Sonarpur Dakshin, Bhangar, Kasba, Jadavpur, Sonarpur Uttar, Tolljganj, Behala Purba, Behala Paschim, Maheshtala, Budge Budge, Metiaburuz, Bally, Howrah Uttar, Howrah Madhya, Shibpur, Howrah Dakshin, Sankrail, Panchla, Uluberia Purba, Domjur, Uttarpara, Sreerampur, Champdani, Singur, Chandannagar, Chunchura, Balagarh, Pandua, Saptagram and Chanditala. EC has deployed 789 companies of the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) at 15,940 polling stations - with Cooch Behar seeing the highest deployment of 187 companies of CAPF. A total of 1,15,81,022 voters will decide the fate of 373 candidates across 5 districts.

Here are key battles

• Tollygunge: Babul Supriyo (BJP) Vs Aroop Biswas (TMC)

The biggest face-off in this phase is between Union Minister Babul Supriyo and sitting TMC minister Aroop Biswas for Tollygunge - the heart of the Bengali film industry. Falling under the Jadavpur Lok Sabha seat, the Asansol MP had staged a protest after being gheraoed by a section of students in the Jadavpur University for nearly six hours. While Supriyo has defeated TMC’s Dola Sen in both 2014 and 2019 from the Asansol Lok Sabha constituency, Tollygunge has voted for Aroop Biswas in 2011 and 2016, trouncing CPM's candidates.

• Chanditala: Md. Salim (CPM) Vs Swati Khandoker (TMC)

Facing third-time re-election, sitting TMC MLA Swati Khandoker is pitted against 4-time CPM's MP Mohd. Salim and BJP debutant filmstar-turned-politician Debashis Dasgupta. With Khandoker trouncing her CPM's candidate Azim Ali Md. Sk in both 2011 and 2016, Md. Salim is set to put up a good fight as he has won two Lok Sabha elections - 2004 and 2014 and is a senior CPM politburo. With a sizeable 34.6% Muslim population in Chanditala, Salim is bound to affect TMC's votebank.

• Bally: Baishali Dalmiya (BJP) Vs Dr. Rana Chatterjee (TMC)

Sitting MLA Baishali Dalmiya - former BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya's daughter was expelled from TMC for "anti-party activities" after she exposed the rot within her party. Joining a host of otehr TMC leaders, she also joined BJP claiming many MLAs are frustrated with the party's functioning. Dalmiya who had won the 2016 elections faces TMC's  Dr. Rana Chatterjee - a pediatrician from Kolkata and  CPI (M)’s Dipshita Dhar. While Dalmiya had trounced her CPM contender in 2016, the TMC candidate Prasun Banerjee won from Howrah against BJP’s Rantidev Sengupta in 2019 Lok Sabha.

• Champdani: Abdul mannan (Congress) Vs Arindam Guin (TMC)

Leader of Opposition Abdul Mannan seeks re-election from Champdani in Hooghly district against TMC's Arindam Guin - the former chairperson of Baidyabati Municipality. Guin – a known face in the area with a clean track record, will have a mammoth task as Mannan trounced TMC's Muzaffar Khan in 2016 by 74,048 votes. Meanwhile in 2011, TMC's Muzaffar Khan had won against CPM candidate Jibesh Chakraborty.

• Chuchura: Locket Chatterjee (BJP) Vs Asit Mazumder (TMC)

Another TMC-BJP faceoff in Hooghly will be seen as 2-time MLA Asit Mazumdar faces BJP MP Locket Chatterjee. While Mazumdar has won the seat twice in 2011 and 2016, trouncing Naren Dey and Dr. Pranab Kumar Ghosh from All India Forward Bloc respectively, Chatterjee who had jumped ship to BJP in 2015 won the Hooghly seat in 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Recently during phase-1 elections,  Chatterjee alleged that she sustained an eye-injury after some TMC workers allegedly threw colour at her at a Holi program in Kodalia.