Kolkata: The BJP’s electoral fortunes in West Bengal continue to dwindle, with the results of bypolls in four assembly seats indicating a steady erosion of its political strength in the state.
The Mamata Banerjee-led TMC swept all four seats, namely Raiganj, Bagda, Ranaghat Dakshin and Maniktala that went to the polls on 10 July. BJP candidates came in second in all four seats, with the Congress losing its deposit in both seats it contested (Raiganj and Bagda) and the CPI(M) its deposit in the two seats it contested (Ranaghat Dakshin and Maniktala).
In the 2021 assembly polls, BJP won Raiganj, Bagda and Ranaghat Dakshin seats but all three of its MLAs — Krishna Kalyani, Biswajit Das and Mukut Mani Adhikari respectively — eventually joined the TMC.
In the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, Krishna Kalyani and Mukut Mani Adhikari lost to BJP candidates in Raiganj and Ranaghat respectively, but were fielded for the assembly bypolls which they won.
In Raiganj, Krishna Kalyani defeated BJP’s Manas Kumar Ghosh by a margin of 50,077 votes to clinch the assembly seat.
In Bagda, a Matua-dominated seat which falls in the Lok Sabha constituency of BJP MP and Union Minister Shantanu Thakur, TMC was able to stage a comeback after eight years. Madhuparna Thakur of the Trinamool, who has been elected to the assembly from Bagda at age 25, will be the youngest member of the House. She is the daughter of TMC MP Mamata Bala Thakur and cousin of Shantana Thakur. Madhuparna won the seat by defeating BJP’s Binay Kumar Biswas by a margin of 33,455 votes.
And in Ranaghat Dakshin, TMC’s Mukut Mani Adhikari defeated Manoj Kumar Biswas by a margin of 39,048 votes.
Similarly, in Maniktala, where the death of sitting MLA and state minister Shadhan Pandey necessitated a bypoll, his widow Supti Pandey defeated BJP’s Kalyan Chaubey by a comfortable margin of 62,312 votes, thereby retaining the seat which has been within the family since 2011.
But according to political analyst Udayan Bandopadhyay, it is too early to say if the outcome of the assembly bypolls could be taken as a sign of the BJP’s waning political strength in West Bengal.
He told ThePrint, “We are witnessing the results of a bypoll that has taken place within 36 days of Lok Sabha elections results. So, it’s not unnatural for emotion to run high for TMC in Bengal politics. It’s too early to say that the impact of BJP is waning. On the other hand, it’s a gain for Trinamool in a sense of displaying the same kind of political attitude that the BJP is supposed to show.
“From candidate selection to Matua emotion, Trinamool leadership has played the same card in a different colour. At the same time, it must be admitted that Trinamool is far ahead of BJP in terms of political rhetoric and organisational behaviour, right now.”
In the Lok Sabha polls that concluded last month, the BJP faced a massive blow in West Bengal, winning only 12 seats — six less than its 2019 tally — as opposed to the TMC, which won 29 of the state’s 42 Lok Sabha seats.
But the vote share came as a slight relief for the BJP. Compared to the 2019 general election, its vote share declined by a mere 2 percentage points to 38 percent, while that of TMC’s also by 2 percentage points to 46 percent.
State BJP leaders blamed ‘rigging’ and alleged poll-related violence as the primary reasons behind the party’s poor performance in the assembly bypolls.
Speaking to ThePrint Saturday, BJP’s Kalyan Chaubey said, “The elections were not free and fair. There was rigging and BJP workers were threatened. Thus, we are seeing these results.”
BJP MP Samik Bhattacharya told the media, “We couldn’t fight the bypolls wholeheartedly. In some cases, the wrong message was sent to the people. Voters had to cast ballots in a hostile environment which was evident in Bagda and Ranaghat Dakshin. But be patient, we will change this.”
Mamata Banerjee, on the other hand, welcomed the results upon her return to the state after a two-day visit to Mumbai.
“Three of four seats being contested this time were won by BJP both during Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha. Not only have we retained our seat, but also won the other three. It is four out of four for TMC. We express our gratitude to the people. This is a victory of the people,” she said.
In a bid to bolster unity within the INDIA bloc, she also said, “BJP has lost bypoll elections across the country except for two seats… They have lost everywhere and thus the trend across the country is also anti-BJP. This trend is very clear. The mandate of the people is not in favour of the NDA but in the favour of INDIA. All the parties together in the NDA, collectively got 46 percent votes while the INDIA alliance parties got 51 percent votes. The mandate is against them.”
According to political analyst Snigdhendu Bhattacharya, though the ruling party usually enjoys an advantage in bypolls, “this victory is significant for TMC since two turncoats who lost in the Lok Sabha elections have won”.
“The results are a setback for the BJP, which may find it difficult to keep workers and supporters’ morale up,” he told ThePrint.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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