Bharatiya Janata Party has once again maintained its dominance in the changed politics of West Bengal. Today, the results of the assembly by-elections held on Rejinagar and Nandigram seats have come out and BJP has registered a big victory on both these seats. BJP candidate Shankarav Sarkar won from Muslim Buhal Rezinagar assembly seat and Hasi Rani Rath won from Nandigram. In these by-elections, Ritabrata Banerjee's Democratic Trinamool Congress (DTC), which broke away from Mamata Banerjee's TMC and formed a separate faction, has suffered a major setback.
In the assembly elections held this year in West Bengal, Suvendu Adhikari had contested from two seats and won both the seats. After this, he left Nandigram seat and from this seat BJP gave ticket to Hasi Rani Rath, mother of Suvendu Adhikari's aide Chandranath Rath. Apart from this, Humayun Kabir, who had separated from Mamata Banerjee's party, had won from Rejinagar seat but later he left this seat. This is a Muslim dominated seat and BJP has won this seat also.
Also read: UP Rajya Sabha elections: BJP won 8 seats and SP won unopposed on 2 seats.
What happened to Ritabrata Banerjee group?
After the crushing defeat of Mamata Banerjee's TMC in the West Bengal Assembly elections, there was a split in her party. Going against Mamata Banerjee, Ritabrata Banerjee formed a separate faction and with the support of the MLAs became the leader of the opposition. Along with this, he has also staked his claim on TNC party. However, in the by-elections, the Election Commission had banned both the groups from using the party name and election symbol. After this, Ritabrata Banerjee's faction chose the name Democratic Trinamool Congress (DTC).
Democratic Trinamool Congress i.e. Ritabrata Banerjee's faction had fielded its candidates on both the seats in this by-election. The party had given ticket to Safiuzzaman Shaikh on Rezinagar seat but he lost badly. He got only 2044 votes. Whereas, BJP candidate has won this seat with a margin of more than 75 thousand votes. Humayun Kabir's party stood second and Congress party stood third.
Talking about Nandigram, BJP has once again won this seat. BJP candidate Hasi Rani Rath got a total of 1,64,227 votes on this seat. Whereas Congress candidate Milan Pradhan got only 41,674 votes. The candidate of Ritabrata Banerjee's group got only 853 votes. He stood fifth on this seat. Democratic Trinamool Congress has suffered a major setback on both these seats.