Former President Pranab Mukherjee's son Abhijit Mukherjee faces a tough battle in West Bengal's Jangipur as he seeks a hat-trick of wins from the constituency which had sent his father to Parliament twice.
Amid a desperate drive by state's ruling Trinamool Congress for its maiden victory in Jangipur and BJP's growing strength across districts, the fight is going to be harder for Abhijit Mukherjee after the collapse of the seat adjustment talks between the Congress and the Left.
The constituency has been a Congress bastion over the past 15 years, electing its then veteran leader Pranab Mukherjee in 2004 and 2009. Abhijit Mukherjee, who started as a Congress Legislator from Nalhati in Birbhum district, made his Lok Sabha debut in 2012 by winning a by-election to the Jangipur seat after his father resigned from the house to contest in the presidential polls.
Mukherjee junior, however, won with a slender margin of just 2,536 votes even though the Trinamool was not in fray. He retained the seat in 2014 defeating CPI-M's Muzaffar Hossain by a slim margin of 8,161 votes. State's ruling Trinamool nominee S.K. Nurul Islam stood third.