• Bengal Assembly bypolls: While TMC hopes for clean sweep in 6 seats, BJP hopes to cash in on protests against ruling faction
    Indian Express | 24 November 2024
  • With the counting of votes of the by-elections to the six Assembly seats of West Bengal slated for Saturday, the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) is confident of sweeping it all. However, the BJP is pinning its hope on public anger over alleged corruption and the R G Kar rape and murder of a trainee doctor in August, which had sparked protests across the state.

    The by-polls come as the last major litmus test before the 2026 West Bengal Assembly polls, even as the protests have been seen as more urban-based than rural.

    Out of the six seats, Madarihat and Sitai are in northern West Bengal and the other four — Taldangra, Medinipur, Haroa, and Naihati — are in southern West Bengal. In 2021, five of these were bagged by the TMC, while the BJP won in one seat. All six were vacated after their holders won the Lok Sabha elections held earlier this year.

    “We have trust in the people. We are hopeful that people have voted for (Chief Minister) Mamata Banerjee’s development initiatives in Bengal. We expect to win six out of six tomorrow,” said Kunal Ghosh, TMC general secretary and spokesperson.

    A senior Trinamool Congress leader said, “It seems like just six assembly seats, but the timing of the by-elections is important to us. We are hopeful that we will win all six seats. If that happens, then it will be clear to us that the R G Kar protests had no impact on the minds of the voters. The protests have also fizzled out. Taking that into account, our party chief Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee will prepare the road map for the 2026 Assembly polls.”

    Interestingly, Mamata Banerjee held a meeting with the party’s senior leaders at her residence in Kalighat on Monday. Meanwhile, party number two and MP Abhishek Banerjee is preparing for a major reshuffle in the ranks and files, which will be announced in December.

    For the BJP, even if it wins one or two seats out of the six, it will be a major boost for the party, which won 77 out of the 213 seats in the 2021 Assembly elections.

    “If we can retain Madarihat and win one or two more, it will be an impressive show for us. During the by-polls, the TMC and state police worked together. A win will show that even after all the odds against us, people are with us,” said a senior BJP leader.

    The CPI(M)-led Left Front did not form an alliance with Congress this time but instead depended on a Left-ISF coalition. In five of the by-poll seats, five parties of the Left Front filed candidates (including CPI(M-L) Liberation in one), and one seat was given to the ISF.

    Notably, while the TMC maintained its dominance in the Lok Sabha elections this year, the BJP was ahead of them in two of these assembly constituencies: Madarihat and Medinipur, by 9,000 and 11,000 votes, respectively. On the other hand, the TMC was ahead in Sitai (by 29,000), Naihati (by 15,000), Taldangra (by 8,000), and Haroa (by 1,10,000).

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