Kolkata civic polls: Congress’s Santosh Pathak holds on to ‘Hindi heartland’ – Times of India

KOLKATA: Santosh Pathak’s win from Ward 45 for the fourth time in a row did not come as a surprise to Congress leaders on Tuesday. Even in the 2021 assembly polls, this was the only ward in Kolkata where Congress had secured a lead.
Pathak secured 4,813 votes—a little pver 61% of total votes polled in the ward.
A youth from Buxar, Bihar, Pathak started making a mark in Kolkata’s political circuit in 2005, when he first won from Ward 45, comprising Strand Road and surrounding areas. He was seen attending every occasion—from mundan to shradh—where he was invited and he even visited villages of ward residents, most of them migrant workers from Bihar and UP. “They consider him a son of the soil. He know the pulse of Hindi heartland,” said a Congress leader. “No other contestant is this close to the people in the ward,” said Congress leader Amitabha Chakraborty.
“False voting was reported from Brabourne Road and Pollock Street. We put up a resistance and it ended in a clash with Trinamool workers,” said Pathak.
Another Congress winner was debutant Wasim Ansari from Ward 137, who won by 1,374 votes. “We fought in 50-60 wards and expected to win in 10. Had the polls been fair, we could have won those,” said Congress president Adhir Chowdhury.