Lose-lose for BJP in Midnapore and Durgapur after Dilip shift
Times of India | 5 June 2024
Kolkata: The decision to shift Dilip Ghosh from the Midnapore constituency to Burdwan-Durgapur proved costly for the BJP, which lost both the Lok Sabha seats. Ghosh lost to Trinamool’s Kirti Azad by a margin of 1,37,981 votes, his first electoral defeat since his career transition from an organizational role with the RSS to electoral politics.
“I worked hard, yet was defeated.In politics and in life, ups and downs are part of the game. Look at Mamata Banerjee, where she was and where she is now,” said Ghosh after the results on Tuesday.
Before entering the counting centre in the morning, he had acknowledged the difficulty of the contest. “Winning an is much tougher than winning a Cricket World Cup. People accepted me when I came here. I hope they continue to accept me,” Ghosh said.
Ghosh’s nomination had remained uncertain and his name from Burdwan-Durgapur was finalized barely 48 days before the elections. Ghosh, who had won Midnapore by nearly 89,000 votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, was initially omitted from the first list of candidates announced in March. In spite of that, Ghosh had maintained that “despair” was not a word in his vocabulary. The Bengal BJP had quickly explained that their strategy involved releasing a partial candidate list before the poll dates were announced. While Ghosh was fielded from Burdwan-Durgapur, Asansol South MLA Agnimitra Paul replaced Ghosh as the BJP’s parliamentary candidate from Midnapore. By the end of the counting, Paul, too, lost to Trinamool’s June Maliah by 27,191 votes.
Lok Sabha ElectionsAssembly ElectionsParty ViewAlliance View.cls-1, .cls-2, .cls-3 { fill: none; } .cls-1, .cls-4, .cls-5, .cls-6 { stroke-width: 0px; } .cls-2 { stroke: #b17979; stroke-miterlimit: 10; stroke-width: 1.2px; } .cls-2, .cls-3 { stroke-linecap: round; } .cls-7 { fill: #595959; font-family: Verdana, Verdana; font-size: 10px; } .cls-7, .cls-8, .cls-9, .cls-10, .cls-11, .cls-12 { isolation: isolate; } .cls-8 { fill: #000; font-family: ArialMT, Arial; } .cls-8, .cls-9, .cls-10 { font-size: 12px; } .cls-3 { stroke: #ccc; } .cls-4, .cls-9, .cls-10 { fill: #1a1a1a; } .cls-4, .cls-11 { display: none; } .cls-9, .cls-10 { font-family: Verdana-Bold, Verdana; font-weight: 700; } .cls-10 { letter-spacing: 0em; } .cls-6 { fill: #ccc; }Majority: 272543543Seats: 543 L + WNDA WONNDA293INDIA234OTH16View MapView DetailsSource: PvalueAsked about his shift from Midnapore to Durgapur, Ghosh said, “There was this question. The question still persists. I hope, in future, the question will be answered. But as a disciplined soldier of the party, I am to do what I am asked to do.”
During his tenure as the Midnapore MP, Ghosh secured significant funding for local infrastructure projects, including Rs 304 crore for the repairs and strengthening of the bridge over the Kansai. He also facilitated the construction of flyovers and underpasses through the railways. Notably, he had been censored by the party multiple times and was absent from three of PM Narendra Modi’s pre-poll campaigns. In 2019, the BJP had narrowly won the Burdwan-Durgapur constituency with a margin of less than 2,500 votes. The party’s performance declined further in the 2021 assembly polls, when it won only Durgapur West. BJP’s vote share in the seven assembly segments under the LS constituency decreased, while Trinamool increased its share. BJP’s vote share also dropped significantly in the 2023 panchayat polls.