Darjeeling Lok Sabha Election Results 2024: Raju Bista won the Darjeeling parliamentary seat of West Bengal . Darjeeling comprises seven Legislative Assembly segments - Kalimpong, Darjeeling, Kurseong, Matigara-Naxalbari, Siliguri, Phansidewa and Chopra. It is a GENERAL category seat and has a population of 22.01 lakh. This seat is witnessing a high-profile triangular contest between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Indian National Congress (INC). The demands for statehood for Gorkhaland and the conditions of tea garden workers are key issues in Darjeeling.
Darjeeling Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Key candidates and parties
Darjeeling is one of the high-profile seats out of the 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal. The seat was dominated by the Left and the Congress till the 1980s. Since 2009, the BJP has won the Lok Sabha for three consecutive times, primarily due to support from the Gorkhaland movement. This year, the seat will witness a close triangular contest between the BJP, TMC and Congress.
Incumbent BJP MP from Darjeeling, Raju Singh Bista, will look to retain his seat. The TMC, which has never won the constituency, has fielded Gopal Lama, a Gorkha candidate backed by the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM). The Congress has nominated Munish Tamang for the seat. The race for the Darjeeling heated up when BJP's Kurseong MLA Bishnu Prasad Sharma announced that he would contest independently, as he was unhappy with the BJP not choosing the "son of the soil".
Darjeeling Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Date of polls
The constituency went to Lok Sabha polls in the second phase of the general elections on April 26.
Darjeeling Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Voter turnout
West Bengal saw a voter turnout of 76.58 per cent in the second phase. Out of the three constituencies in that phase, Darjeeling witnessed a voter turnout of 74.76 per cent, according to the Election Commission of India.
Darjeeling Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Date of results
The results of the Darjeeling Lok Sabha Elections will be declared on June 4.
Darjeeling Lok Sabha Elections 2024: What happened in 2019 and 2014?
Bista won the Darjeeling constituency by a huge margin in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections after garnering 750,067 votes, defeating TMC's Amar Singh Rai who got 336,624 votes and Congress' Sankar Malakar.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, BJP candidate SS Ahluwalia won 488,257 votes and defeated former footballer and TMC candidate Bhaichung Bhutia by a margin of 1,97,239 votes. CPM's Saman Pathak came third with 167, 186 votes.
