Choudhari doesn't seem too unhappy with the size of the crowd in the CPI(M) den of Habibpur block where the rally is being held. ``Wherever in the country you find a railway man from Malda,'' says the fiery Youth Congress leader at the microphone, ``you can be sure he's got the job because of Barkatda.'' A middle-aged farmer in the crowd, Rukhuzzaman, nodshis head in agreement. ``Quite true, we must all vote for Barkat sahib. He's the ancient man of Malda. It doesn't matter if he is not well or if he can't be a minister again.''

Speaker after speaker sings the same theme song. The countless jobs Barkatda has given to the men from Malda. Choudhari, the last speaker, picks up the thread: ``Yes, no other politician can claim to have done for his constituency what I've done for Malda.'' He knows that Habibpur and the neighbouring Bamoongola blocks are CPI(M) strongholds and is candid enough to admit that he couldn't do much for these blocks which are inhabited by some of the poorest in the Malda district. But at least he tried to improve the irrigation system, he says. And if elected, he would try to improve it again with special projects for the Tangan and Pnarbhava rivers. ``I, Ghani Khan, don't give false promises. Those of you who think I do so needn't vote for me,'' he says imperiously.

In this semi-urban constituency bordering Bangladesh, the CPI(M)candidate, Sailen Sarkar, has got a headstart in campaigning. Apart from holding a number of meetings daily, the party has put up posters and banners almost everywhere in the constituency. Choudhari is running a low-key campaign with very few posters and banners, but he is making every effort to visit each nook and corner of his constituency.

However, in his pocketboroughs of Sujapur and Ratua Assembly segments, he needn't canvass at all. With one sister and one brother already party MLAs and another sister raring to make her debut soon, the Choudhari family continues to rule the roast in this north Bengal district.

Such in his image, not only in Malda but throughout the state, that even Mamata Banerjee had made concessions for Choudhari last time and didn't put up a Trinamool Congress candidate against him. The Trinamool's ally, the BJP, however, had no such qualms and fielded a candidate, but it was an open secret in Malda that time that Trinamool supporters didn't vote for the BJP's Muzaffar Khan butfor Ghani Khan, who defeated his nearest CPI(M) rival, Sailen Sarkar, by close to 50,000 votes. But then sections of CPI(M) supporters are known to have voted for Choudhari in the past too. Only once in the past 20 years was he almost shocked by Malda -- in 1991, he scraped through by a margin of only 1,820 votes. Can he repeat the feat this time, making it his seventh successive win from Malda?

Not any longer, say the BJP's Muzaffar Khan and the CPI(M)'s Sailen Sarkar, who are again in the fray. They point out that Choudhari is unwell and, more importantly, the Congress can't form a government in New Delhi. The saffron as well as the Marxist graffiti here have a common theme -- that PCC president Choudhari can no longer be a minister and give jobs to people from Malda. Indeed, if he wins again, it will be only because of Malda's gratitude for the man who made promoting his constituency his mission.