KOLKATA: Though his party, Trinamool Congress, was defeated, Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, 82, won the Ballygunge seat, scripting history, becoming the only Bengal MLA set to serve his 10th consecutive term.This octogenarian Trinamool MLA is one of Mamata Banerjee’s closest associates since the party was founded on Jan 1, 1998. He was the only MLA in the state assembly representing the party at that time, having won a byelection in 1998 shortly after the party’s formation.
Compared to his 2021 result from the Khardah seat, where he won by 93,832 votes, his margin decreased slightly this time. Even then, it was the highest victory margin from an assembly seat in Kolkata, as he defeated BJP candidate Shatarupa Chattopadhyay by 61,476 votes.Preparing to enter the state assembly as an opposition MLA, Chattopad-hyay said, “Remember that before we came to office, I represented an opposition party as an MLA for 20 years, so it is not a big deal. However, I am quite upset about the way other candidates of my party were defeated, especially our leader Mamata Banerjee. It was unfair. I have long experience with counting and have never seen such misbehavior with election agents, who were barred even medi-cines from being present at the compilation table, which is a first in my experience. This time, we received only as much information as they provided us.”Chattopadhyay started his political journey in the 1960s during his college days. He first entered the assem-bly in 1991 after winning the Baruipur seat as a Congress candidate and was re-elected from the same constituency in 1996. During his political career, his seat changed multiple times. Whether it was Baruipur, Rashbehari, Bhabanipur, Khardah or Ballygunge, he accepted the party’s decision without a question. This time, while his former assembly seats were won by BJP candidates, he secured victory with a high margin.Asked about his “image factor”, he gave full credit to the voters, saying, “People of this area had accepted me before I even started campaigning, which I feel is the biggest gift from them.”Accepting his party’s defeat, Chattopadhyay said: “I have certain commitments to the voters who supported me, and I must keep my promises. I have done developmental work for my constituencies, and this time, despite the changed scenario, I will do the same.”
