In keen battle for Bengal bypolls, TMC aims to repeat Lok Sabha landslide, BJP looks to hold ground

Of the four Assembly constituencies up for bypolls, three seats – Ranaghat Dakshin in Nadia district, Bagdah in North 24 Parganas district and Raiganj in North Dinajpur district – were bagged by the BJP and the remaining one – Maniktala in Kolkata – was won by the TMC in the 2021 Assembly elections. Although the bypolls usually go in favour of the ruling party in Bengal, there seems to be a silver lining for the BJP as it had led in three of them (except Maniktala) in the Lok Sabha polls.

After the 2021 Assembly polls, the BJP MLAs from these three seats – Krishna Kalyani from Raiganj, Biswajit Das from Bagdah and Mukut Mani Adhikari from Ranaghat Dakshin – defected to the TMC while remaining the BJP MLAs only on paper.

The TMC fielded Kalyani, Adkhikari and Das in the Lok Sabha polls from Raiganj, Ranaghat and Bangaon constituencies respectively, who resigned as MLAs to contest the polls, but they were defeated by the BJP candidates.

In the upcoming bypolls, too, the TMC has given its tickets to Kalyani and Adhikari from the Raiganj and Ranaghat Dakshin seats. Since Das was apparently not willing to contest the bypoll, the party nominated Madhuparna Thakur from the Bagdah constituency.

The Left Front is contesting the bypolls in alliance with the Congress. The CPI(M) has fielded Arindam Biswas and Rajib Majumder in Ranaghat Dakshin and Maniktala respectively, while the All India Forward Bloc, a constituent of the Left Front, has nominated Gouraditya Biswas from Bagdah. The Congress has fielded senior party leader and former MLA Mohit Sengupta from the Raiganj seat.

Maniktala

The Maniktala seat fell vacant in the wake of the demise of sitting TMC MLA Sadhan Pandey in February 2022. The party has nominated his wife Supti Pandey for the bypoll. The BJP has fielded Kalyan Chaubey, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) chief, against her.

In the 2021 elections too, Chaubey contested from the same seat on the BJP’s ticket, but lost to Pandey, former minister. He challenged the result in the Calcutta High Court, alleging irregularities and demanding a recount of votes. As a result of the petition, a bypoll could not be held in Maniktala until now even after Pandey’s death. Chaubey withdrew the petition in April this year, paving the way for the current bypoll.

The Maniktala constituency has been a TMC stronghold, which the party has been winning since 2011.

Raiganj

The Raiganj seat is also set to see a fierce fight between the TMC and the BJP. In the 2021 elections, Kalyani, the then BJP candidate, won it by defeating the TMC candidate by over 20,700 votes.

Ahead of the recent Lok Sabha polls, Kalyani resigned from the BJP to contest from the Raiganj parliamentary constituency on the TMC ticket. He lost the election, but the TMC has again fielded him from his erstwhile seat in the bypoll. The BJP has pitted a local party leader Manas Kumar Ghosh against him.

Bagdah

The Bagdah Assembly seat was won by Biswajit Das on the BJP ticket in the 2021, who beat the TMC nominee by about 10,000 votes. He also shifted to the TMC to contest the Lok Sabha polls, unsuccessfully, on its ticket from the Bangaon (SC) seat.

The TMC has now nominated Madhuparna Thakur as its candidate for the Bagdah seat bypoll. Madhuparna, the daughter of the TMC’s Rajya Sabha MP Mamata Bala Thakur, belongs to the Matua Thakurbari family. The BJP has fielded a local leader Binay Kumar Biswas against her.

Ranaghat Dakshin

In Ranaghat Dakshin, the then BJP candidate Mukut Mani Adkhikari defeated the TMC nominee in the 2021 polls by over 16,500 votes. He, too, switched to the TMC to contest the Lok Sabha polls from the seat of the same name, but lost to the BJP candidate.

He is contesting again, in the Assembly bypoll from the seat on the TMC ticket and is pitted against the BJP’s Manoj Kumar Biswas.

With Monday marking the last day of campaigning for the bypolls, the TMC appears confident to replicate its resounding victory in the Lok Sabha polls, although it would face a formidable challenge from the BJP in these Assembly seats.

TMC state vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar told The Indian Express, “The bypolls are significant for West Bengal politics. In Lok Sabha polls, BJP had led in three of them (Raiganj, Bagdah, Ranaghat Dakshin). However, two elections are different and it is expected that the results will be in reverse now. The reason behind this expectation is that this is not an election to form a government at the Centre or in the state. People have a tendency to vote in favour of the ruling party in Assembly bypolls. Therefore, we are confident that they will vote for Mamata Banerjee.”

Majumdar said, “TMC won handsomely in Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal. Therefore, the momentum is with the ruling party. We are hopeful to replicate that in Assembly bypolls.”

On the other hand, the BJP seems to be under pressure after the party not only fell short of achieving its target of winning at least 30 Lok Sabha seats in Bengal, but also saw its tally slide.

A change of guard in the state BJP leadership also seems imminent as state party president Sukanta Majumdar has been inducted into the Narendra Modi-led NDA government as Union Minister of State for Education and DoNER. Under such circumstances, the party has its task cut out.

“The people have seen the reign of terror unleashed by the TMC after Lok Sabha polls. They are tired of witnessing post-poll violence again and again. Terror and violence are the only strategies the TMC applies to win the election. We are hopeful that the people will vote against the TMC in the bypolls,” said Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari.