Saira Shah Halim: CPM’s losing candidate in Ballygunge who turned the tide for party

The spotlight has stayed on West Bengal CPI(M) candidate Saira Shah Halim even after her loss in the Ballygunge Assembly bypoll. Here's how the niece of actor Naseeruddin Shah turned the tide for her party.

Saira Shah Halim, the CPI(M) candidate for Ballygunge Assembly bypoll, seen during an election campaign in Ballygunj, West Bengal. (Express photo by Partha Paul)

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In the cut-throat world of electoral politics, it’s not often that the spotlight stays on the runner-up. Yet, CPI(M) candidate Saira Shah Halim’s loss in the Ballygunge Assembly bypoll has ended up doing just that.

Though she was expected to lose to the Trinamool Congress’s Babul Supriyo — she eventually lost by over 20,000 votes — Halim, 43, managed to effect a stunning turnaround in the flagging fortunes of the CPI(M). The party’s vote share in the seat went up from 5 per cent in the 2021 Assembly elections to more than 30 per cent this time around. She also ensured that the BJP ended up a distant third.

Halim, however, has been in the spotlight much before the votes were counted. Niece of veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah — her father Lt Gen (retd) Zameer Uddin Shah was vice chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University and the elder brother of the actor — Halim is married to Fuad Halim, son of Hashim Abdul Halim, CPM leader and former Speaker of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly.

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Saira Shah Halim seen during an election campaign in Ballygunj, West Bengal. (Express photo by Partha Paul)

Though Halim was born in Kolkata, her father’s Army background took her to Punjab, Manipur, Nagaland and Tamil Nadu (Ooty). She even spent two years in Riyadh, where her father was posted as India’s defence attaché in the Gulf.

A graduate of Sofia Girls’ College in Ajmer, Halim, who has a Master’s in English literature, worked as a business development and communication trainer with the West Bengal Electronics Industry Development Corporation (Webel), among other multinational firms, before gravitating towards social work and activism between 2014 and 2018. She was part of the anti-NRC and anti-CAA protests in Kolkata.

Calling her loss in Ballygunge a “moral victory”, Halim told The Indian Express on Sunday, “It’s very clear that the CPM is making a roaring comeback. It is a moral victory for me and my comrades who fought so hard against ruthless state intimidation, communalism and other factors. The TMC used all its machinery, negative campaign and misogynistic propaganda against me but people dismissed all that. They showered me with love and affection. Our comrades fought well.”

Atri Mitra

Atri Mitra is a Special Correspondent of The Indian Express with more than 20 years of experience in reporting from West Bengal, Bihar and the North-East. He has been covering administration and political news for more than ten years and has a keen interest in political development in West Bengal. Atri holds a Master degree in Economics from Rabindrabharati University and Bachelor's degree from Calcutta University. He is also an alumnus of St. Xavier's, Kolkata and Ramakrishna Mission Asrama, Narendrapur. He started his career with leading vernacular daily the Anandabazar Patrika, and worked there for more than fifteen years. He worked as Bihar correspondent for more than three years for Anandabazar Patrika. He covered the 2009 Lok Sabha election and 2010 assembly elections. He also worked with News18-Bangla and covered the Bihar Lok Sabha election in 2019. ... Read More