As trends are emerging in Lok Sabha election results 2024, top BJP candidates in West Bengal including the party’s state president, Sukanta Majumder, and Dilip Ghosh are trailing.

In the first few rounds of counting, the BJP’s star candidate in Tamluk, former Calcutta High Court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay, was also trailing but he later surged ahead of his rivals.

During the election campaign, both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the BJP would get at least 30 of the 42 seats. But early trends, which show the saffron party leading in around 10 seats, suggest even its 2019 tally of 18 seats will be tough to achieve.

As per the early trends, Dilip Ghosh, a former BJP state chief, is trailing in Burdwan-Durgapur and Sukanta Majumder is trailing in Balurghat. Union minister Nisith Pramanik is trailing in Cooch Behar. In Medinipur, BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul is trailing behind the TMC’s actor-turned-politician June Maliya.

In the 2019 elections, the BJP won all seats in western and northern parts of Bengal. But this time, the ruling TMC is leading in more than one seat in these parts.

Among Matua-majority constituencies such as Ranaghat, Krishnanagar, Bangaon, the BJP is leading in Ranaghat and Bangaon, both of which it won last time.

The BJP is trailing also in Basirhat, under which comes Sandeshkhali, where the saffron party organised a movement against TMC leaders accused of land grabbing and sexual harassment. The BJP fielded Rekha Patra, who was at the forefront of protests in Sandeshkhali, but the TMC’s Haji Nurul Islam is leading with more than three lakh votes.

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