The CPI(M) held the seat from 1980 till 2004 when the Congress won and emerged victorious again in 2009.In the polls of 2014 and 2019, CPI(M) and TMC bagged Murshidabad.Murshidabad constituency has not been a stronghold of any of these parties since the early 2000s, which is a likely reason for violence during polls, according to experts.The CPI(M), in alliance with the Congress, which were foes earlier in the state, is taking on the TMC and the BJP in this election in West Bengal.The CPI(M) state secretary, who is also a Politburo member of the party, said the local populace having to work as migrant labourers, CAA and corruption allegations against some TMC leaders were the major issues.”Two anti-incumbencies are working jointly, one against the BJP and the other against the TMC,” he told PTI, asserting that the Left-Congress alliance will reap its dividends.Maintaining that the CAA is raked up whenever elections come, he claimed that an attempt to create a binary by the BJP and TMC over the issue will “boomerang” on them this time.”History does not repeat itself,” he said.The CPI(M)-led Left Front, which ruled the state for 34 years at a stretch till 2011, had returned empty-handed in West Bengal in the 2019 general elections.In 2019, the TMC had won in Murshidabad with flying colours, bagging 41.57 per cent of votes, while the Congress got 26 per cent, BJP 17.05 per cent and CPI(M) came fourth with 12.44 per cent.Exuding confidence to win the seat for the second consecutive term, TMC candidate Abu Taher Khan, who joined the Mamata Banerjee-led party from Congress before the 2019 elections after resigning as an MLA, claimed that Salim is not a factor in Murshidabad.”Mohammed Salim may be an asset for his party, but in Murshidabad, he has no role,” Khan, who had won from Naoda assembly segment for four consecutive terms from 2001 on a Congress ticket and was that party’s Murshidabad district president also, told PTI.He claimed that CPI(M) found a Muslim-majority seat for Salim.
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