"Absent From Contest": BJP's Abhijit Gangopadhyay's Swipe At Opposition

After filing his nomination from the Tamluk Lok Sabha seat, BJP candidate and former Calcutta High Court judge, Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay, on Saturday said that he has respect for the opposition but it seems they are not very active or present in the current election race.

"I do not underestimate them (opposition), but I find that they are not on the ground. They are absent from the contest," he said.

BJP has fielded Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay from Tamluk while TMC has fielded Debangshu Bhattacharya from the Tamluk Lok Sabha seat.

TMC's Adhikari Dibyendu won from the Tamluk garnering 724433 votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. TMC defeated BJP Sidharthashankar Naskar who got 534268 votes. The TMC secured 50 percent.

Voting in the Tamluk Lok Sabha seat will be conducted on June 25 in Phase 6. West Bengal, which sends 42 MPs, to Parliament, is voting in all seven phases. Polling for six Lok Sabha seats in Bengal was held across the first two phases on April 19 and 26.

Polling for the remaining parliamentary seats will be held on May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25, and June 1.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the TMC won 34 seats in the state, while the BJP had to settle for just 2. The CPI (M) won 2 seats, while the Congress bagged 4.

In the 2019 general elections, the TMC dropped to 22 seats, while the BJP saw the lotus bloom in 18 seats. The Congress brought up the rear, winning just 2 seats.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)