Kolkata : Trinamool Congress has registered a resounding victory on all the 6 assembly seats in the state in the by-elections. The special thing is that while retaining its 5 seats, Trinamool also snatched Madarihat seat from BJP. The significance of this victory increases because for some time, the Mamata Banerjee government led by Trinamool Congress was facing continuous protests over the incident at RG Kar Medical College here.
By-elections were held in these six constituencies after the resignation of the sitting MLAs of those seats after winning the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. These include Naihati, Haroa, Medinipur, Taldangra, Sitai (reserved) and Madarihat (reserved) seats. The by-election was being seen as an important test for the state's ruling party Trinamool Congress, especially as the elections were being held amid a politically charged environment due to the protests at RG Kar Medical College.
What did Shubhendu Adhikari say on the defeat?
In the election results, BJP stood third in Haroa seat and also failed to save its deposit. More than 70 percent of the voters here belong to the minority community. Regarding Haroa, party leader Shubhendu Adhikari said, “Minorities do not vote for BJP.” At the same time, the Left Front led by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) also faced a crushing defeat and its deposits were forfeited in Sitai, Taldangra, Medinipur and Madarihat. Similarly, its ally Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist (CPI-ML) candidate for Liberation had his deposit forfeited in Naihati while the All India Secular Front (ISF) candidate's deposit in Haroa seat was forfeited.
Congress's deposits confiscated on all 6 seats
In this election, for the first time after 2021, the Congress, which contested the elections without an alliance with the Left parties, lost its deposits in all 6 constituencies. In Sitai, TMC candidate Sangeeta Roy won by a margin of 1,30,636 votes while her nearest rival Deepak Kumar Ray of BJP got 35,348 votes. TMC's vote percentage in this seat increased to 76 percent compared to 49 percent in the 2021 state elections, while BJP's vote percentage dropped from 45 percent to just 16 percent.
These TMC candidates won
BJP had won the Madarihat seat in 2021. In the by-election held on this, TMC's Jayprakash Toppo secured 79,186 votes, which was 28,168 votes more than the votes of BJP's Rahul Lohar, who secured 51,018 votes. This marks the return of TMC to the strategically important seat in the tea garden region of the state. In Naihati, TMC's Sanat Dey won by securing 78,772 votes while BJP's Rupak Mitra got 29,495 votes. In Haroa, TMC candidate S.K. Rabiul Islam won by getting 1,57,072 votes while ISF's Piyarul Islam got only 25,684 votes. In Medinipur, TMC's Sujoy Hazra won by getting 1,15,104 votes, more than 33,996 votes over BJP's Subhajit Roy, who got 81,108 votes.
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Mamta Banerjee thanked the public
In Taldangra, TMC candidate Falguni Singhababu got 98,926 votes, defeating BJP candidate Ananya Roy Chakraborty by 34,082 votes. Five of the six constituencies are located in south Bengal, which has traditionally been a TMC stronghold, while Madarihat in the northern part of the state was won by the BJP in 2021. Due to this by-election, there was further excitement in the existing political atmosphere of the state which was already heated due to the protests over the RG tax incident. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee thanked the people of the state for winning the by-elections on all six assembly seats in West Bengal.
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BJP state president did not give importance to the results
The Chief Minister said that the results of the by-elections will help him in working for the people. Banerjee wrote on 'X', “I want to thank and congratulate Maa, Mati and Manush from the bottom of my heart. Your blessings will help us work for the people in the coming days.” At the same time, BJP state president Sukant Majumdar did not pay much attention to the results. “The by-election results cannot be a reliable indicator,” Majumdar said. Whether people are with TMC or against them, it will be visible in the upcoming assembly elections.”
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