Surrounded by grey-haired party supporters sloganeering with Communist Party of India (Marxist) flags, an energetic Srijan Bhattacharyya weaved his way through Kolkata’s ward 97 in Tollygunge, waving and greeting locals, Ashirbaad deben (Give us your blessings).
The 31-year-old Mr. Bhattacharyya is one of the many next-generation candidates fielded by the CPI(M) in key constituencies across West Bengal, for this year’s Lok Sabha election. He is contesting in the urban constituency of Jadavpur, against 31-year-old actress Saayoni Ghosh, who is the president of the West Bengal Trinamool Youth Congress, and Anirban Ganguly of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Jadavpur is set to vote in the seventh phase of the Parliamentary elections on June 1.
An erstwhile Left bastion, the Jadavpur constituency witnessed a thumping Trinamool victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. Trinamool candidate, actress Mimi Chakraborty, won with 6,88,472 votes while the CPI(M), represented by party veteran Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya, made up 21% of the total vote share.
