Students’ union chief of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Aishe Ghosh, will contest the West Bengal Legislative Assembly election from the Jamuria constituency. Ghosh, believed to be the first sitting JNUSU president to contest an assembly election, will be fighting on a Communist Party of India (Marxist) ticket.
Ghosh will also be backed by the Sanyukt Morcha.“Will be contesting from Jamuria Legislative Assembly Seat as the candidate of the CPI(M), supported by the Sanyukt Morcha. Requesting all of your support,” Ghosh said in a tweet on March 11.
She was injured in a brutal attack on students and teachers on the JNU campus in January 2020. The images and videos of blood streaming down Ghosh’s face had gone viral. The incident of violence on the JNU campus in Delhi had led to protests across the country.
The state of West Bengal is heading for polling in eight phases starting from March 27. The counting of votes will happen on May 2 along with Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, and Tamil Nadu.
Jamuria is located in Bengal's Paschim Bardhaman district near the inter-state border with Bihar. The legislative seat was won by CPI(M)'s Jahanara Khan in the last two assembly polls in 2011 and 2016.
The CPI(M) is a key component of the Left Front, which is contesting the election in alliance with the Indian National Congress and the Indian Secular Front (ISF). The alliance is taking on Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which has made heavy electoral gains in the state in recent years.
In fact, BJP’s largest gains have come from western regions of Bengal along the Bihar border with the Jamuria constituency is located. The constituency is part of the Asansol Lok Sabha seat, which is held by BJP leader and Union Minister Babul Supriyo.
Kanhaiya Kumar, also a former JNU students' union chief, had unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Bihar's Begusarai parliamentary constituency as a Left candidate.
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