Karthik Chandra Paul
The Raiganj Lok Sabha constituency of North Dinajpur in West Bengal was once considered a Congress stronghold. Later, despite the dominance of the Left, the BJP fielded Debshree Chaudhary on the seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. However, despite Debashree not contesting from the seat this time, BJP candidate Karthik Chandra Paul has retained the seat. He defeated his nearest rival Krishna Kalyani of Trinamool. BJP’s Karthik Chandra Paul got 5,608,97 votes. While Krishna Kalyani of Trinamool Congress got 4,927,00 votes. Kartik Chandra Paul won by a margin of 68197 votes, while Congress candidate Ali Imran Ramzan got 263273 votes.
Karthik Chandra Paul was associated with late Congress leader Priyaranjan Dasmunshi in student politics. When Priyaranjan Dasmunshi was in politics, he was a councilor of Kaliaganj Municipality. Later Karthik and some of his followers joined the Trinamool Congress. As a result, the board fell into the hands of the Trinamool Congress. After this he became the president of Kaliaganj Municipal Trinamool Board.
Karthik Paul is considered close to Shubhendu Adhikari
Since the beginning, he has been known to be ‘close’ to Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, Subhendu Adhikari. When Shubhendu Adhikari joined the BJP before the 2021 assembly elections, he also joined them. Karthik Chandra Pal also won the last municipal corporation election on a BJP ticket. He became the councilor of Ward No. 8 of Kaliaganj Municipality. After this, BJP directly made him the MP candidate.
Last time Trinamool Congress was desperate to win this seat. The Trinamool Congress fielded Krishna Kalyani, who had resigned as an MLA, as its candidate, but he could not win and the seat was again won by BJP candidate Karthik Paul.
Karthik Chandra Paul has many assets
49-year-old Karthik Chandra Paul is the son of Kalidas Paul. He is voter number 524 in 34 Kaliaganj constituency, part number 68. He is known as a social worker in this area. Apart from this, he is also associated with many businesses.
Karthik Chandra Paul is a graduate. His total declared assets are Rs. 5.1 crore out of which Rs. 1.8 crore movable assets and Rs. 3.3 crores including immovable properties. His total public income is Rs 48.3 lakh, of which Rs 25.2 lakh is his own income. Karthik Chandra Paul’s total liability is Rs. 2.7 crores. According to the affidavit filed with the Election Commission, no criminal case has been registered against him nor has he been convicted in any case.
