The first phase of West Bengal assembly election will be held on March
27 across the five districts of Bankura, Purulia, Jhargram, East Midnapore, and
West Midnapore. The electoral fate of the region, inhabited by Tribal
communities such as Santhal, Munda, Oraon, Khera and many more apart from the non-reserved population, is held to some degree by the tribal population.

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The five districts in question make up the western parts of West Bengal,
bordering BJP-governed Jharkhand. While the key battles are mainly between
Trinamool Congress and the BJP, the latter have witnessed a meteoric rise since
the 2016 assembly elections in the state and currently holding 18 Lok Sabha seats
in the state, the alliance too can occur as a strong candidate in the region.

Several key battles in the first phase would be observed across the five
districts, some of which are listed below:

1.     
Jhargram: Trinamool
Congress’ Sukumar Hansda currently holds the Jhargram assembly constituency.
Hansda, in 2016 elections, defeated Chunibala Hansda representing Jharkhand Party
by a margin of 55,228 votes and this time would be going up against BJP’s
Sukhmoy Satpati. Traditionally, it would appear to be an easy victory for TMC
considering the political weightage of Hansda in the region. However, BJP
candidate Kunar Hembram winning the Jhargram Lok Sabha the seat in 2019 General
Elections has had a telling effect, resulting in the party increasing its
electoral preparations in the area manifold.

2.     
Purulia: Many eyes would
be on Purulia, as the seat could one of several key assembly seat in the state considered
as ripe for the taking by BJP. Sudip Mukherjee, one of Congress’ major faces in
West Bengal, won the seat in 2016 assembly elections by a close margin of 4,911
votes. The political scenario in the seat has since reversed, as Mukherjee joined
the BJP in December, 2020.

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3.     
Nandigram: Arguably the
most hyped and politically charged battle of the 2021 assembly elections, the Nandigram
seat has been witness to several politically dramatic events in recent months,
be it Chief Minister allegedly getting attacked by unknown personnel, to former
TMC MP and political heavyweight from East Midnapore, Suvendu Adhikari, filing
his nomination and looking to battle to out against his former party chief.

4.     
Kharagpur: Falling under
the Medinipur Lok Sabha constituency, Kharagpur is represented in the Lok Sabha
by BJP MP Dilip Ghosh, one of the possible Chief Ministerial candidates in West
Bengal.

TMC has fielded its sitting
MLA Dinen Roy again, whereas BJP has fielded Tapan Bhuya in the 2021 elections
from the seat. Roy, in 2016, had defeated Sajahan Ali of the CPI(M).

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5.     
Khejuri: Reserved under
the Scheduled Caste category, Khejuri is currently held by Trinamool Congress’ Ranajit
Mondal. However, TMC’s Partha Pratim Das will be going up against BJP’s Santanu
Pramanik in the seat, with the latter being a noted name for the political side
in West Bengal.

The candidature of Mondal
from Khejuri, which falls under the Kanthi Lok Sabha constituency, was possibly
replaced by the TMC because of Sisir Adhikari, the sitting MP joining BJP ahead
of the elections.