Amit Shah seeks booth-wise report on by-election results

Kolkata: BJP national president Amit Shah has sought a booth-wise report from the state unit on the three by-elections, whose results were announced on Thursday.

BJP has fared badly in the three constituencies and the lead the party candidates took from the Assembly segments where Lok Sabha poll was held in 2019 election, has dropped drastically.

Pradip Sarkar of Trinamool Congress defeated his nearest BJP rival Prem Chand Jha in the Kharagpur by-election by over 20,000 votes.

Dilip Ghosh had defeated Gyan Singh Sohanpal of Congress by 4,500 votes in the 2016 Assembly election.

His margin from Kharagpur Sadar segment subsequently went up to 85,000 votes in 2019.

All senior party leaders from Delhi had campaigned for Jha. The Central leadership wants to know why the people have rejected the BJP within six months after the Lok Sabha poll was held.

The by-election results have exposed the organisational weakness of the party and despite repeated requests, the state unit has not taken adequate steps to strengthen the organisation in the grassroot level.

After Shah asked to submit the booth-wise report, state leaders have refused to talk about the bypoll results.