The results of these two minority-dominated constituencies will be a pointer to working of the minds of the community whose votes are crucial to every political party in any election in the state. After having voted en bloc for the Congress for long years and then CPI(M) during its tenure,, these votes have swung towards the Trinamool Congress even as the BJP nominee is stating their party will ensure development of this community in a manner no party has done before.

With an eye on securing a larger slice of minority votes both the Congress and the TMC have hurled the charge of being "BJP's dummy" at each other. Having wrested Berhampore Assembly segment from the Congress for the first time, it is felt BJP will be relevant in Berhampore..

With a long history of going hammer and tongs at the BJP and Trinamool Congress, PCC chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury is involved in a triangular electoral battle at Berhampore. Setting aside all their differences, both the Trinamool and BJP want his defeat even as he seeks the people's verdict to represent the voters in this minority dominated Lok Sabha constituency for the sixth time.

Way back from the years when Mamata Banerjee was in Congress, Choudhury opposed her policies and programmes, the TMC supremo is keen to end Chowdhury's winning run in electoral politics. Even as Chowdhury shot some of his sharpest barbs at the chief minister and her nephew accusing them of corrupt practices , the Prime Minister had once referred to the Congress MP as "Adhirda, veer hai" (Adhirda, is a hero) leaving thereby traces of sneaking admiration towards the veteran Congress leader.

Notwithstanding his dislike for TMC, Chowdhury as a leader of Congress supported it to form the government in 2011 when the two parties ended the 34-year long Left Front regime. Yet his was a strident voice of criticism when his party left the coalition government.

A thorn to the Left even when he was a MLA, it is ironical that Chowdhury was instrumental as the PCC chief to cobble together a seat sharing arrangement with the Left in 2016 Assembly elections. In the fitness of things, he helped inclusion of CPI(M) in his new coalition and distanced his party from TMC when it offered only two seats to the Congress in West Bengal in Lok Sabha polls.

Known for being at the side of his party activists through thick and thin, Chowdhury is reputed for not denying cooperation even to any supporter of a rival political outfit. But his popularity which cuts across the political divide has electoral arithmetic pitted against it.

Of the seven Assembly segments making up the Berhampore Lok Sabha, constituency, six are represented by TMC MLAs while Berhampore itself has a BJP legislator for the first time. To end Chowdhury's invincibility myth, Trinamool has fielded former national cricket team player, Yusuf Pathan while a popular local doctor Nirmal Chandra Saha takes on Chowdhury as the BJP candidate.

Pathan's candidature is aimed to stoke minority community sentiment. His characteristic hard hitting batting exploits in the slog overs and his spin bowling is aimed to appeal to voters cutting across political and religious divide.

This time, Chowdhury is like a batsman hemmed in by close in fielders awaiting a snick. In a situation where khadi is preferable to white flannels, the cricketing simile is not out of place given Pathan's participation.

If the TMC candidate is a political novice, his naivety is made up by the guidance to him from Chowdhury's onetime right hand man, Apurba Sarkar aka David. With Sarkar at his side, Pathan will have a leg up on the polling day as David who gave Chowdhury a run for his money in 2019 Lok Sabha elections knows the ins and outs of the electoral game plan of the Congress candidate.

But Chowdhury's political rivals will overlook at their peril the support given by the CPI (M) activists. Given Congress activists cooperation to coalition supported CPI(M) nominee Md. Salim at Murshidabad constituency on May 7 polling, the Left activists are expected go all out to reciprocate the favour making May 13 elections a political tug of war.

Moving over from "land of the nawabs" Murshidabad to Krishnanagar Lok Sabha constituency does not mean making a break with the affairs of the district on the banks of Bhagirathi. For TMC nominee, Mahua Moitra contesting this election after being expelled from the Lok Sabha on cash for questions allegations has dragged out skeletons from the closet to outsmart Amrita Roy, the BJP nominee.

Belonging to the royal family of Krishnanagar, Roy known as 'Rajmata" has been caught on the wrong foot after the TMC nominee refreshed public memory focussing on the role of Krishna Chandra Roy in the conspiracy with the English to defeat Bengal's nawab, Siraj -ud-daula in the fateful battle of Plassey. Krishna Chandra happens to be Roy's ancestor and she cannot deny the connection.

The battle of Plassey paved the way to the drainage of Bengal's wealth by the English and the foundation of its rule in India. A former top notch corporate executive, Moitra has raised doubts on Roy's credibility citing her "Plassey connection".

But since the influence of Roy and her party does not extend beyond Krishnanagar town, Moitra is not too much worried about the BJP candidate. In her reckoning, coalition supported CPI(M) S M Sadi may queer the pitch if he gets a good share of the minority votes.

Despite being saddled with several electoral reverses, Sadi has zeroed in on the minority voters at Kaligunj and Palashipara. Moitra too has her eyes on these voters who supported her in 2019 elections even as the lines of the TMC and the Left candidates' appeal to the voters are almost identical.

But electoral arithmetic is in TMC's favour even as both Moitra and Sadi are referring to the unfulfilled poll pledges of Modi and the dispensation he heads at the Centre. Apart from Krishnanagar (North) which has a BJP MLA, the rest of the six Assembly segments have TMC legislators.

The CPI(M) nominee cutting into Moitra's minority votes will be a boon to the saffron camp. As she canvases for votes, Moitra loses no opportunity to point this out having once hit the headlines after raising charges of proximity between the Prime Minister Modi to the Adani group of industries. The expelled Lok Sabha member is confidently looking at the polling with the hope that she is going to the Lok Sabha for the second time while the five time Congress Lok Sabha member Adhir Chowdhury is struggling hard to defend his seat against TMC onslaught. (IPA Service)