Unemployment and workforce migration continue to remain major issues in Congress heavyweight Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury’s bastion, the Baharampur Lok Sabha constituency in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district, and seems to have triggered ‘anti-incumbency’ for the five-time MP from the seat.

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) sprung a surprise by bringing in former India all-rounder Yusuf Pathan from Gujarat to challenge Chowdhury, the son of the soil who has been winning the seat without a break since 1999. Besides Pathan, Chowdhury is also taking on BJP’s Nirmal Chandra Saha, a popular doctor from the region, where polls are scheduled on May 13.

“Although we consider Adhir da as our leader, we did not see his required involvement in Baharampur’s development in the last decade. We had higher expectations from him,” Sudhir Sengupta, a local businessman, told PTI.

According to Lakshman Hazari, a resident of Amar Chakraborty Road in Baharampur town for the last 55 years, the entire district seems to have earned the dubious distinction of becoming the repository for supplying skilled labour to the rest of the country at a low cost.

“What has this TMC government done other than bring back migrant workers home during the Covid-19 pandemic?” Hazari asked.

While Baharampur is dominated by over 66 per cent Muslim population, the constituency is also inhabited by minorities like Christians (0.25 per cent), Jains (0.04 per cent) and Sikhs (0.01 per cent).

Besides the religious spread, 13.2 per cent of the total population in Baharampur belong to the Scheduled Castes (SC) category and 0.9 per cent to Scheduled Tribes (ST). The Lok Sabha constituency has seven assembly segments — Burwan (SC), Kandi, Bharatpur, Rejinagar, Beldanga, Baharampur, Naoda — all in Murshidabad district.