News Mania Desk/Agnibeena Ghosh/15th July 2024
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has encountered another electoral setback in West Bengal, with the results of by-elections in four assembly seats indicating a diminishing political influence in the state.
Led by Mamata Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) secured victories in all four constituencies—Raiganj, Bagda, Ranaghat Dakshin, and Maniktala—that went to polls on July 10. BJP candidates trailed in second place across all seats, while the Congress and CPI(M) faced losses severe enough to forfeit their deposits in the respective constituencies they contested.
In the 2021 assembly elections, the BJP had won Raiganj, Bagda, and Ranaghat Dakshin seats. However, all three BJP MLAs—Krishna Kalyani, Biswajit Das, and Mukut Mani Adhikari—subsequently switched allegiance to the TMC.
Krishna Kalyani, who won Raiganj by a significant margin of 50,077 votes, and Mukut Mani Adhikari, victorious in Ranaghat Dakshin with a margin of 39,048 votes, exemplify the fluidity of political affiliations in the region. In Bagda, TMC’s Madhuparna Thakur emerged victorious over BJP’s Binay Kumar Biswas by 33,455 votes, marking a comeback in a seat dominated by the Matua community.
The Maniktala constituency, which saw a bypoll following the demise of sitting MLA Shadhan Pandey, saw TMC’s Supti Pandey retaining the seat with a comfortable margin of 62,312 votes.
Political analyst Udayan Bandopadhyay cautioned against prematurely interpreting the bypoll results as a sign of the BJP’s declining influence in West Bengal. He emphasized the emotional and strategic factors at play immediately following the Lok Sabha elections, suggesting that TMC’s performance reflects its adeptness in political maneuvering and candidate selection.
Despite setbacks in the by-elections, the BJP maintains a significant presence in West Bengal, albeit facing challenges such as alleged electoral irregularities and violence during polling, according to BJP leaders including Kalyan Chaubey and Samik Bhattacharya.
Mamata Banerjee, buoyed by TMC’s clean sweep, attributed the victories to popular support and perceived anti-BJP sentiment across the country. She emphasized the collective mandate of the INDIA alliance, asserting that the electoral outcomes underscore a broader national trend against the BJP-led NDA.
While by-election victories typically favor the ruling party, TMC’s success in reclaiming seats from defectors who lost in the previous Lok Sabha elections underscores its resilience and strategic acumen in West Bengal’s volatile political landscape.
