The six assembly seats in West Bengal, including the Madarihat segment that had supported the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2016 and 2021, were decisively won by the ruling Trinamool Congress on Saturday.Since the incumbent MLAs were elected to the Lok Sabha earlier this year, by-elections were held on November 13 in Sitai (SC), Madarihat (ST), Naihati, Haroa, Midnapore, and Taldangra. The TMC had also won the other five seats in 2021, with Madarihat being the exception.
With the exception of the Haroa assembly segment in the North 24 Parganas district, where the All India Secular Front finished second and the BJP candidate forfeited his election deposit, the BJP was able to gain the second position in five seats. The TMC candidates’ margin of victory in Sitai, Naihati, and Haroa exceeded historical highs. Since all of its candidates lost their deposits, the Congress and Left Front, which ran separate campaigns, were all but destroyed.
As her party, the Trinamool Congress, appeared poised to win all six assembly seats that were up for grabs in the by-elections, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee praised the people of the state on Saturday. She claimed that her efforts on behalf of the people would be aided by the by-election outcomes.
“I would like to thank and congratulate the ‘Maa, Mati and Manush’ from the bottom of my heart. Your blessings will help us work for the people in the coming days. We all are common people and that is our identity. We are not zamindars, but the custodians of the people,” she posted on X.
Former state unit president Dilip Ghosh, however, wanted the party to take a harder look at the results. “We did not do well in the Lok Sabha polls. Bypoll results are also not good. These should be reviewed by the current leadership,” Ghosh said.
“There may be differences in opinion but these are ironed out when we reach unanimous decisions,” Adhikari said, referring to criticism over the selection of candidates.
The Election Commission claims that the TMC was ahead by significant margins in Taldangra and Medinipur and had already won the seats in Naihati, Sitai, Haroa, and Madarihat.
