MALDA: The search for
Nihar Ghosh
, the
namesake
of the independent candidate backed by Congress and Left Front at
English Bazaar
, has ended after a month. The efforts have left
Trinamool Congress visibly relieved but the combined Congress and CPM opposition seething.
Assembly Election Results
Trinamool's heavyweight candidate Krishnendu Narayan Chowdhury, the state's food processing minister, appears to be in a sticky wicket in his home turf English Bazaar. The reason isn't hard to gauge. Opposing him is a 59-year-old English Bazaar municipality's independent councillor Nihar Ghosh. Both CPM and Congress have lent their weight behind Ghosh - a move that threatens to upset Chowdhury, a three-time winner here.
The 2013 assembly bypolls, necessitated due to Chowdhury's defection to Trinamool from Congress, had witnessed the CPM's vote-share dipping by 11.19% and Congress by a whopping 26.64%. Even then the CPM-Congress aggregate vote-share eclipsed Chowdhury's by 13.78%.
If it is about vote-share, Chowdhury's plan is obvious - to split Ghosh's vote by popping a proxy. The Election Commission, incidentally, has mandated that candidates' pictures will be displayed in the EVM along with their poll symbols.
The hunt for Ghosh's namesake had started a month back. The party zeroed in on an English Bazaar municipality Ward 12 resident, Ranjan Ghosh. He appealed to the sub divisional officer by Form No. 6 to enlist his name as Nihar Ranjan Ghosh in the voters' list. But CPM leader Anjali Choudhury sniffed a rat. She complained that there was no such person with such name and that no valid paper in support of the claim was submitted during the time of electoral roll inclusion. District administration did not entertain Ranjan's appeal.
But, the search for the namesake was still on and finally a schoolteacher named Nihar Ghosh was found. A teacher of English at Bhartitary High School of English Bazaar, Ghosh is originally from Bulbulchandi, about 25 km away under Habibpur police station. For the last few years, he has been staying at a rented house at English Bazaar with his wife and 6-year-old son. With no involvement in active politics, Ghosh attended training for election after being appointed as a presiding officer.
But two days back, he was taken to minister Choudhury. He was asked to get ready to file nomination. His wish did not matter, as learnt from his family sources. Sources said that would file the nomination as an independent candidate either on Monday or Tuesday. He could not be contacted as his mobile was switched off. But one of his friends said, "Nihar never had any interest in politics. But he was scared to refuse the minister."
CPM's district secretary Ambar Mitra said, "Scared with the imminent defeat, the minister resorted to such filthy politics of fielding a namesake of our candidate to mislead the voters. But it will never help." Congress MP Mousam Noor said, "I've heard that TMC is desperate to mislead the voters by fielding another candidate. But we're confident that people will reject them."
Chowdhury, however, said, "Is CPM controlling the Election Commission or the people of
Malda
? Anyone can fight election. Even a person named Krishnendu Chowdhury can be a candidate."