Kolkata, Jan 14 (IANS) A record number of 25,000 “unmapped” voters have been summoned for hearings on claims and objections on the draft voters’ list in West Bengal from the single Assembly constituency of Satgachia in South 24 Parganas district, the seat of the former Chief Minister and iconic Indian Marxist, Late Jyoti Basu.

In fact, he was the last CPI(M) legislator from that constituency to be elected for five consecutive terms, since 1977, the year the 34-year-long CPI(M)-led Left Front regime began in the state.

Until his retirement before the 2001 West Bengal Assembly elections, he was the party legislator from Satgachia.

After his retirement, CPI(M) was never able to win in any Assembly election from that constituency.

Heavyweight Trinamool Congress leader and former Deputy Speaker of the West Bengal Assembly, Sonali Guha, succeeded Basu as the legislator from Satgachia in the 2001 elections.

Guha has been elected from that constituency for four consecutive terms.

However, in the 2021 Assembly election, Guha, once considered the shadow companion of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, was denied the nomination by the party.

An aggrieved Guha joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and she continues with the BJP to date. Before joining the BJP ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections, she expressed her annoyance with the Trinamool Congress and Mamata Banerjee. She said she never deserved such treatment after blindly shadowing Mamata Banerjee since the beginning of the latter’s political journey, first with Congress and then with Trinamool Congress.

Satgachia is one of the seven Assembly constituencies under the Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha constituency from where Abhishek Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress’ general secretary, is the representative.

With so many voters from Satgachia being summoned for hearings, the matter has gained prominence in the political circles of the state, both for its historical and present perspectives.

–IANS

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