The hills of Darjeeling have come alive as a three-cornered contest has begun between rival Gorkha parties for domination of the hill areas in the forthcoming West Bengal Assembly election.Darjeeling, Kurseong, and Kalimpong are the three seats in the hills. The three seats in the plains of Siliguri, Phansidewa, and Matigara-Naxalbari also fall within the Darjeeling district and are part of the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat. Darjeeling goes to poll on April 23.In the 2021 Assembly election, BJP-supported candidates had won all three seats in the hills and the three seats of the Darjeeling plains.Since 2014, BJP candidates have consecutively won the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seats in the parliamentary elections, indicating its total domination of the district.The Gorkha parties have traditionally had little faith in the leadership of Kolkata and relied on the ruling party in Delhi in the hope of getting support for their demand for a separate Gorkha state.Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC)’s is non-existent in the hills and have relied on one of the Gorkha parties for some visibility in the hills. It has also lost all the seats in the plains to BJP.To get a foothold in the hills, Mamata has aligned with different Gorkha leaders since she came to power in 2011. Currently, she supports Anit Thapa, the Chief Executive of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) and President of the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM).The three parties in the fray in Darjeeling hills are Anit Thapa’s BGPM, BJP, whose candidates are being supported by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) of Bimal Gurung, GNLF, and the Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxist.The third party in the contest is Ajoy Edwards’ India Gorkha Janshakti Front. Though he is the president of the party, he is better known in the hills and elsewhere as the owner of Darjeeling’s famous restaurant, Glenary’s.Anit Thapa takes credit for his development work in the hill as the Chief Executive of GTA, for which he has been receiving substantial financial support from Mamata. He has taken it as a challenge to push back BJP’s growing influence in the hills.Edwards, a rich businessman with funds to spare, has influence among sections of the urban voters and in recent years have established himself as a serious political player in Darjeeling.Bimal Gurung, a one-time ally of Mamata and leader of GJM, is considered to be among the most influential leaders. By aligning with BJP, he has further strengthened and consolidated his position in the hills and the adjoining areas.GNLF, once the most dominant party in the hills that gained prominence for spearheading the Gorkhaland movement for a separate Gorkha state in the 1980s under Subash Ghising’s leadership, has lost much of its earlier political clout since his death in 2015.His son, Mann Ghising, who is the president of the party, continues with his demand for a permanent political solution to the Gorkhaland issue. But his close association with BJP and growing business interests have blunted GNLF’s earlier militancy to achieve separation from Bengal.It is BJP that has emerged as the most influential political force in the hills over the years. Banking on RSS’ hard work in successfully creating and expanding its network among different groups and sub-groups in the hills and the adjoining areas, the party has consolidated its position over TMC and other political rivals.Amit Shah’s promise for a Permanent Political Solution to the Gorkhaland issue may be a political carrot that is being dangled before the Gorkha parties to consolidate BJP’s position. But with their strong anti-Bengal sentiment, the Gorkhas look to BJP as the best option.