As Bengal votes today, the battleground region of Birbhum personifies the stakes

Birbhum is seen as a battleground district in the state. The TMC has won most seats uncontested in the past, but the BJP is now making inroads, capitalizing on dissatisfaction with the ruling party.

Birbhum It’s a little past noon on July 1, and 45-year-old Alok Bagdi wipes the sweat off his bare upper body, working furiously in the fields of Birbhum’s Abadanga village, desperately seeking to change the subject of the conversation.

Trinamool Congress supporters during a rally ahead of the panchayat elections, at Ahmedpur in Birbhum, on Thursday. (ANI)