Trinamul Launches Strong Campaign in Chopra, Darjeeling: BJP Faces Uphill Battle

Gopal Lama, the Trinamul candidate from Darjeeling, arrived in Chopra on Saturday. This is the only Assembly sector in the seat where the BJP has performed poorly in the last three general elections.

Mayor of Siliguri Gautam Deb and district head of Trinamul (plains) district Papia Ghosh joined him.

"Today, Saturday, was the campaign kickoff for our candidate in Chopra. There was a tremendous reaction, and hundreds of people just showed out for the event. We are optimistic that Trinamul will establish a lead this time around, just as in the past elections. After the campaign, Deb said, "We are making every effort to increase our margin in this Assembly segment."

In Chopra, Trinamul also gathered hundreds of party members and workers for a public gathering.

The BJP has won the Darjeeling parliamentary seat three times since 2009. Nonetheless, the BJP has always trailed behind in Chopra, which is a part of the Darjeeling Lok Sabha constituency but is located in the North Dinajpur district. The Darjeeling district has the remaining six Assembly segments for the seat.

In Chopra in 2009, the BJP trailed the Congress, the Trinamul ally at the time, by almost 55,000 votes. Trinamul had an around 23,000-vote advantage against the BJP in 2014. By 49,000 votes, Trinamul led the BJP in 2019.

Political analysts said that Trinamul received more votes in this region since Chopra is a minority-dominated area.

This time, Trinamul is expecting a lead from three Assembly seats in the hills and has a powerful ally in the form of Anit Thapa's Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha. It is the responsibility of the plains Trinamul leaders to make sure that Gopal Lama receives a lead from each of the four plains Assembly segments. Because of this, it seems that the party is determined to use Chopra—a favorable political ground—to put pressure on the BJP, according to one observer.

Trinamul's Hamidul Rahaman defeated the BJP in Chopra by a margin of 61,000 votes in the 2021 state elections.

We have a son of the land serving as a state government officer in the Darjeeling seat. We've already won half the war because to his popularity," a top Trinamul employee in Chopra said.

Raju Bista, a current member of parliament, has been nominated by the BJP for a second term in Darjeeling, although he has not yet submitted it.