Bengal bypoll results leave lot of room for BJP to introspect on its future strategy

Kolkata: The landslide victory of the Trinamool Congress in the bypolls for four Assembly constituencies in West Bengal left a lot of room for introspection for the BJP on the party’s future strategy in the state ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.

In terms of the 2021 Assembly elections as well as the Assembly-wise results for the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, the BJP was comfortably ahead in three of the four Assembly constituencies namely Bagda in North 24 Parganas, Raiganj in North Dinajpur and Ranaghat-Dakshin in Nadia. The Trinamool Congress was marginally ahead in Maniktala in Kolkata.

Now, in the bypolls, the Trinamool has not only been able to record a landslide victory margin at Maniktala but has also been able to clinch victories after overcoming the deficits in the past two elections at Bagda, Raiganj and Ranaghat-Dakshin.

In the 2021 Assembly polls, the now deceased Trinamool Congress candidate from Maniktala Sadhan Pandey won by a margin of just 20,238 votes securing 57,577 votes which was 50.82 per cent of the total votes polled, leaving the BJP’s Kalyan Chaube in the second position with 47.339 or 35.60 per cent of the total votes polled.

In the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls the Trinamool Congress’s lead margin in Maniktala came down to just 3,575. However, in the bypolls, Trinamool Congress candidate and Sadhan Pandey’s widow, Supti Pandey won by a massive margin of 62,312 votes securing 83,110 votes which is 71.65 per cent of the total votes polled. The BJP’s Kalyan Chaube came a distant second bagging just 20,798 votes or 17.93 per cent of the total votes polled.

At Bagda, the BJP candidate Biswajit Das was elected in 2021 by a margin of 9,792 votes which was 49.41 per cent of the total votes polled, leaving the Trinamool’s Paritosh Kumar Saha in the second position with 98,319 or 44.94 per cent of the total votes polled. In the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, the BJP’s lead margin from Bagda increased to 20,614 votes. However, the trend has completely reversed within a month in the bypolls, where Trinamool candidate Madhuparna Thakur got elected by a margin of 33,455 votes bagging 107,706 votes or 55.04 per cent of the total votes polled. The BJP candidate Binay Kumar Biswas ended second getting just 74,251 or just 37.95 per cent of the total votes polled.

At Raiganj, BJP candidate Krishna Kalyani was elected in 2021 by a margin of 20,748 votes bagging 79,775 votes which was 49.44 per cent of the total votes polled, leaving the Trinamool’s Kanhaiya Lal Agarwal in the second position with 59,027 or 36.58 per cent of the votes polled. Kalyani had to resign as the legislator before the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls since he was contesting as a Trinamool candidate from the Raiganj Lok Sabha seat. However, he trailed from the Raiganj Assembly seat by a margin of 46,739 votes then. However, Kalyani was able to reverse the trend in the bypolls as a Trinamool candidate again by clinching victory by a massive margin of 50,007 votes bagging 86,479 votes. The BJP’s Manas Kumar Ghosh came second getting just 36,402 votes.

The trend was not different in Ranaghat Dakshin.

In 2021, the BJP’s Dr Mukut Mani Adhikari got elected from there by a margin of 16,515 votes, bagging 119,260 of the total votes polled. The Trinamool’s Barnali Dey Roy then finished in the second position with 1,02,745 or 42.51 per cent of the total votes polled. Adhikari had to resign as the legislator before the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls since he was contesting as a Trinamool candidate from the Ranaghat Lok Sabha constituency. However, he trailed in Ranaghat-Dakshin by a margin of 35,936 votes then.

In the bypoll Adhikari was able to reverse the trend by clinching victory from Ranaghat- Dakshin by a margin of 39,048 votes bagging 113533 or 55.08 per cent of the total votes polled. The BJP’s Manoj Kumar Biswas finished second with 74,485 or 36.13 per cent of the total votes polled.

Political observers feel that the results of the bypolls at Bagda and Ranaghat-Dakshin, both dominated by voters from the Matua community, are a concern for the BJP since it had been enjoying the support of the Matua voters since the 2019 Lok Sabha polls which continued in 2024 as well.