Kolkata, June 24 -- Shattering the Opposition's narrative-particularly the BJP's claim that public faith in the Mamata Banerjee-led government is waning-the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has delivered a decisive rebuttal by sweeping all 11 Assembly bypolls held in Bengal since the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
What makes the clean sweep even more striking is that the TMC clinched landslide victories even in four Assembly segments which had seen BJP candidates leading during the 2024 Parliamentary elections. Moreover, the BJP's high-pitched and overtly visible attempts to polarise the electorate on communal lines have once again fallen flat in the recently concluded Kaliganj Assembly by-election. Furthermore, it appears that the voting margins for the ruling party's candidates are increasing which indicates a growing support among the electorate. Even the majority community has not been impressed by the BJP's shrill Hindu-Muslim pitch as was evident in the by-election result in Kaliganj, felt political experts. BJP failed to secure half of the expected Hindu votes in Kaliganj, resulting in a loss of its vote banks.
The people of Bengal once again proved that they were not ready to buy BJP's communal politics and repose their trust in the development politics of the Mamata Banerjee government, felt a political observers.
Trinamool Congress candidates on the other hand increased their vote share in all the recent byelections. During the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had a lead in four Assembly constituencies - Raiganj, Ranaghat Dakshin, Bagdah and Madarihat.
In the by-elections, Trinamool Congress won all the seats. In 2024, the BJP had secured a lead of 46739 votes in Raiganj but Trinamool won the by-election by a margin of 50077 votes. BJP, during last year's Lok Sabha elections, had a margin of 36936 votes from Ranaghat Dakshin Assembly segment but in the by-elections, Trinamool Congress managed to secure a winning margin of 39048.
In Bagdah, the BJP had a lead of 20614 votes in 2024 but in the bypolls Trinamool won the seat by a margin of 33455 votes. In Madarihat the BJP secured a lead by 11063 votes during last year's Lok Sabha elections but in the Assembly bypoll Trinamool won the seat by a margin of 28168 votes.
It is interesting to see if the BJP will recalibrate its strategy for the 2026 Assembly polls in light of its failure to polarise voters in elections on repeated occasions.
Trinamool Congress spokesperson Debangshu Bhattacharya on Monday said: "BJP did not even get half of the estimated 1,08,000 Hindu votes in Kaliganj. It means more than half of Hindu votes have gone to non-BJP parties. Their logic of Hindu vote consolidation is failing repeatedly in Bengal." Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha leader Derek O'Brien wrote: "Since the Lok Sabha elections of 2024, there have been 11 bypolls held in Bengal. The score so far: TMC = 11, all other parties = 0."
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.