Mamatas debutante is up to the challenge

At first I was very nervous as it is a huge responsibility. But then I thought if Didi has chosen me,I should respect her decision, adds the shy Falguni,at 30 the youngest of the 90 candidates from the 14 Junglemahal constituencies going to polls on May 10,West Bengals final round of voting.

Her inexperience notwithstanding,her father Chandra Mohan Murmu feels his children developed a political mindset growing up in a political atmosphere. Murmu was with the Congress from 1967 and then with the Trinamool since its inception in 1998.

Local leaders say Mamata had wanted a young woman to contest from the Ranibandh seat. I am so excited. If I win this election,I will meet Didi and take her advice how this area can be developed, Falguni says.

Falguni is pitched against the CPMs Debolina Hembram,Minister of State for Backward Classes Welfare. Falguni is somewhat worried Hembram might win over voters with sops that she has been allegedly distributing.

I come from a very humble background and do not have the means to distribute gifts among voters, says Falguni,who teaches at Chakrobathore Primary School in Ranibandh.

She identifies her constituencys problems as lack of development and education,apart from the influence of Maoists. Villagers gather at her home in Balabar and complain about the absence of a hospital in the constituency. The unwell have to be taken to Bankura State General Hospital,40 km away,and many of them have died on the way. Drinking water is scarce in the entire constituency and the absence of a college in Ranibandh means many students drop out after school.

Bankuras other two Maoist-affected constituencies,Raipur and Taldanga,too are underdeveloped; the district ranked second from the bottom in the 2010 West Bengal Human Development Report. Debolina Hembrams reply to this is,All this is false propoganda by opponents to tarnish our party. Yet,she admits drinking water is scarce here and there are not enough educational institutions.

Her explanation for the water scarcity is,This is rough terrain. Even I do not get enough water.

She insists the area has developed from what it used to be. When I was a child,there was such poverty in Bankura that we did not even get rice to eat. We used to eat maize, she says. That is behind us. There are two higher secondary and three higher secondary schools here now,thanks to the Left Front government.

A third candidate,Aditya Kisku of the Jharkhand Anushilan Party,has his own votebank. Locals like Sanatan Hansda expect a tough fight for the first time. The old warhorses have their own voters and the newcomer is trying to make a match out of it.