TMC supporters celebrate with Shreya Pandey, daughter of party candidate Supti Pandey, after her win from Maniktala Assembly constituency, in Kolkata on July 13, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI
The Trinamool Congress on July 13 won bypolls for all four Assembly seats in West Bengal on which elections were held on July 10. The results, which come almost five weeks after the Lok Sabha polls, have emerged as a shot in arm for the State’s ruling party.
Trinamool Congress candidate Supti Pandey defeated BJP Kayan Chaubey by a margin of over 62,312 votes from Maniktala Assembly constituency in Kolkata. The seat had fallen vacant in February 2022 after the death of State’s Minister Sadhan Pandey. Supti Pandey is the widow of Sadhan Pandey while Mr. Chaubey is the president of All India Football Federation.
At Bagda constituency in North 24 Parganas district, Trinamool’s Madhuparna Thakur defeated BJP’s Binay Kumar Biswas by a margin of 33,455 votes. At Ranaghat Dakshin Assembly constituency located in Nadia district Trinamool’s Mukut Mani Adhikari defeated BJP’s Manoj Kumar Biswas by a margin of 39,048 votes.
Both Ranaghat Dakshin and Bagda have a significant population of the Matua community and were considered a stronghold of the BJP.
At Raiganj Assembly seat in north Bengal’s Uttar Dinajpur district the Trinamool Congress candidate Krishna Kalyani defeated BJP’s Manas Kumar Ghosh by a margin of 50,077 votes.
The results of by-polls assume significance as in 2021 Assembly polls the BJP had won three of these four seats. After the 2021 Assembly polls MLAs of three constituencies – Raiganj, Bagda and Ranaghat Dakshin switched sides and joined the TMC. Two of the candidates Krishna Kalyani had contested Lok Sabha polls from Raiganj Lok Sabha seat and Mukul Mani Adhikari had contested from Ranaghat Lok Sabha seat and lost to BJP candidates.
Even in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in certain Assembly constituencies like Raiganj, BJP had a lead of about 40,000 votes but almost in a month the TMC candidate won by a margin of about 50,000 voters on the seat.
While the BJP leadership particularly candidates contesting the by-polls had alleged that there were electoral malpractices on the day of polling, party spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya called for an introspection of the party’s performance.
Although Mr. Bhattacharya said that elections particularly at Maniktala Assembly were far from being free and fair, the BJP spokesperson added that the margin of victory of Trinamool candidates was a reason of concern and the party will make a turnaround from the situation.
The defeat is an embarrassment for the West Bengal BJP which suffered a setback in the Lok Sabha polls and won only 12 Lok Sabha seats whereas the Trinamool Congress increased its tally to 29 Lok Sabha seats. There are 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal.
