Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP and national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee has won in West Bengal’s Diamond Harbour by a margin of 7,10,930 votes in the Lok Sabha election according to the Election Commission of India.
The TMC leader, who is the nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, is running for a third consecutive term from the seat.
Established during the first Lok Sabha elections in 1952, the Diamond Harbour constituency consists of seven legislative assembly segments – Falta, Maheshtala, Bishnupur, Diamond Harbour, Satgachhia, Metiaburuz, and Budge Budge.
The Lok Sabha seat was once considered a strong bastion of Communist Party of India (Marxist) as it won ten consecutive terms from 1967 to 2004. However, the political dynamics changed in 2009 when Trinamool Congress’ Somendra Nath Mitra won the seat, defeating CPM’s Samik Lahiri with a vote margin of 14.39%.
In the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the party continued its dominance in the seat as Abhishek Banerjee defeated CPM’s Abdul Basit and BJP’s Nilanjan Roy, respectively. Banerjee has set his sights on a hat-trick from the seat.
The 36-year-old politician gained a vote share of 40.31% in his electoral debut in 2014, which rose to 56.15% in 2019. He joined politics as a member of the Trinamool Congress in 2011 after the party had ousted the 34-year Communist Party of India-led Left Front regime by winning the Assembly Election in the same year.
The 2021 Assembly election victory marked a significant point in Abhishek Banerjee’s political career. His influence over the state Cabinet strengthened, and Mamata Banerjee entrusted him with leading the party’s national expansion plans. This move was one of the first clear signs of her nephew’s growing influence within the party.
The Diamond Harbour constituency went to the polls in the seventh and last phase of Lok Sabha elections on June 1 and recorded a voter turnout of 72.87 per cent.
The Lok Sabha polls for 543 seats were held in seven phases starting from April 19. The Bharatiya Janata Party is seeking a rare third term at the Centre with Narendra Modi as Prime Minister.
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