KOLKATA: West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress comfortably received the six meeting seats on Saturday together with the Madarihat phase that had voted the Bharatiya Janata Get together in 2016 and 2021.
Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee congratulated folks from all religions and castes for the get together’s victory in a publish on X (PTI FILE)
The November 13 bypolls have been held at Sitai (SC), Madarihat (ST), Naihati, Haroa, Midnapore and Taldangra as a result of the incumbent MLAs have been elected to the Lok Sabha earlier this yr. Besides Madarihat, the TMC had received the opposite 5 seats in 2021 as nicely.
The BJP managed to safe the second place in 5 seats besides within the Haroa meeting phase in North 24 Parganas district the place the All India Secular Entrance was the runner-up and the BJP candidate misplaced his election deposit.
In Sitai, Naihati and Haroa, the victory margin of the TMC candidates surpassed earlier information.
The Congress and Left Entrance which contested individually have been just about worn out with all their candidates shedding their deposits.
TMC founder and chief minister Mamata Banerjee congratulated folks from all religions and castes for the get together’s victory in a publish on X. “Your blessings will encourage us to work harder for the masses. We are common people. This is our identity. We are not landlords but protectors of people.”
BJP state unit president Sukanta Majumdar and chief of the opposition within the meeting, Suvendu Adhikari, stated such outcomes weren’t sudden in bypolls and their get together would sweep the 2026 state elections.
“Byelections produce such results because ruling parties get all the advantages. We will win the 2026 elections,” Majumdar stated.
Former state unit president Dilip Ghosh, nevertheless, needed the get together to take a more durable have a look at the outcomes. “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 stated.
“There may be differences in opinion but these are ironed out when we reach unanimous decisions,” Adhikari stated, referring to criticism over the number of candidates.
In 2021, TMC received 215 of Bengal’s 294 meeting seats and BJP wrested 75 seats. Earlier this yr, TMC bagged 29 of Bengal’s 42 Lok Sabha seats whereas BJP’s tally got here down from 18 to 12.
Within the north Bengal area, the place the BJP outdid TMC within the 2019 Lok Sabha and the 2021 meeting polls, TMC’s Sitai candidate Sangita Roy received by greater than 130,000 votes, the best margin within the bypolls. Her husband, Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia, received the seat in 2021 by round 10,000 votes over his BJP rival however resigned after successful the Cooch Behar Lok Sabha polls this yr.
Jay Prakash Toppo received the Madarihat seat within the tea backyard space of Alipurduar district by 28,168 votes.
Between 1962, when the Madarihat constituency was shaped, and 2011, when Mamata Banerjee’s TMC got here to energy for the primary time, the seat was received by Left Entrance companion Revolutionary Socialist Get together (RSP) 12 occasions and as soon as by the Congress.
BJP’s Manoj Tigga reversed the pattern in back-to-back polls, successful Madarihat in 2016 and 2021.
Tigga was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Alipurduar seat within the March-April polls this yr. Former union minister John Barla, who received the Alipurduar Lok Sabha seat in 2019 and had hoped the get together would area him once more, blamed the state unit management for the defeat. “We lost Madarihat because decisions are taken by leaders in Kolkata. Nobody keeps track of ground reality,” Barla stated.
“I don’t want to comment on Barla’s remarks,” stated Adhikari.