Darjeeling Lok Sabha constituency voted during the second phase of general elections. Here's how the candidates have fared:
Counting of voting has started:
FINAL UPDATE: BJP's Raju Bista defeated TMC's Amar Singh Rai by 423443 vote. Mamata's gambit of getting a 'bhumiputra' to contest failed as Bimal Gurung even while being absconding had the last laugh.
Darjeeling Lok Sabha constituency profile:
For the last few decades, Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat has seen a familiar pattern. Whoever gets the support of the dominant hill party, wins the seat. Be it Congres and Left at the time of GNLF or BJP in the latest two instances propped up by GJM, the voters of Kalimpong, Darjeeling and Kurseong assembly segment decided the fate of this seat.
2019 though is different. Be it Amar Singh Rai of TMC or Raju Bista of BJP, no candidate will get undivided votes from the hills. The Hill politics has taken a curious turn after Bimal Gurung escaped to evade arrest. Binay Tamang who is currently head of GJM is pro- TMC. He has tied up with TMC and Amar Singh Rai, who is MLA from GJM from Darjeeling Assembly seat is contesting on a TMC ticket.
But Bimal Gurung even in hiding is not willing to give up without a fight. He has lent his support to BJP's Raju Bista. GNLF burying their hatchet with Bimal Gurung is also supporting Bista. Also in the fray is Harka Bahadur Chhetri, Jaan Andolan Party President. BJP decided to drop sitting MP SS Ahluwalia as he had become extremely unpopular. However, Mamata Banerjee has taken a jibe at BJP for para shooting a candidate from Manipur in Bengal.
Congress candidate Shankar Malakar and CPI(M)'s Saman Pathak are unlikely to get much traction in the hills but they will be getting decent amount of votes in the assembly segments of Matigara- Naalbari, Siliguri, Phansidewa, Chopra. In final analysis, it is a BJP versus TMC fight on 18th April and unlike last few times, the result isn't a foregone conclusion.
