Lok Sabha 2019 constituency: Darjeeling has been with BJP since 2009
SS Ahluwalia of the BJP had beaten Trinamool Congress candidate and former Indian footballer Bhaichung Bhutia from the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat in the general election in 2014.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has held Darjeeling, one of the 42 Lok Sabha constituency in West Bengal, for the last two terms.
SS Ahluwalia of the BJP had beaten Trinamool Congress candidate and former Indian footballer Bhaichung Bhutia from the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat in the general election in 2014. Bhutia left Trinamool and floated his own Hamro Sikkim party in 2018.
Read: Full coverage of Lok Sabha elections 2019
The former BJP leader Jaswant Singh had won the Darjeeling parliamentary seat in the 2009 Lok Sabha election. Before that, the Congress and Communist Party of India (Marxist) held the seat five and six times respectively.
Known for its tea and Unesco World Heritage site of Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, Darjeeling will vote on April 18, the second of the seven-phased Lok Sabha election 2019. The result will be declared on May 23.
Here are some facts about Darjeeling:
State: West Bengal
Name of the Lok Sabha constituency: Darjeeling
Date of voting: April 18
2019 candidates: Raju Singh Bisht (BJP), Amar Singh Rai (Trinamool), Shankar Malakar (Congress), Saman Pathak (CPI-M)
Sitting MP, party: SS Ahluwalia, BJP
Winning margin in 2014: 197,239
Runner up name, party: Bhaichung Bhutia, Trinamool Congress
Number of voters in 2014: 1,142,009
Percentage of votes polled in 2014: 79.46%
Number of women voters in 2014: 699,942
Number of polling booths in 2014: 1,829
