Clean sweep for TMC in all 11 Kol seats

KOLKATA: Regaining its lost territories in Kolkata, Trinamool Congress (TMC) has won in all 11 Assembly constituencies in Kolkata by comfortable margin.

In 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Trinamool in South Kolkata and North Kolkata Parliamentary constituencies had lost five Assembly segments. In Rashbehari segment, which falls under South Kolkata Lok Sabha seat, it had trailed behind BJP by 5000 votes. In Shyampukur, it had trailed behind BJP by over 2500 votes.

But, things changed this time. Trinamool has got back its lost territory in Kolkata. Three nominees, who were former members of Board of Administrators of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, won three seats. Debabrata Majumdar defeated Sujan Chakraborty of CPI(M) from Jadavpur while Debashis Kumar defeated Dr Subrata Saha, a retired Lieutenant General of BJP from Rashbehari seat while Atin Ghosh defeated Shibani Singha Roy of BJP. Vivek Gupta in his inaugural debut defeated Mina Devi Purohit of BJP in Jorasanko.

Shashi Panja was elected from Shyampukur for the third consecutive time. Sadhan Pandey was elected from Manicktala for the third consecutive time when Paresh Pal was elected from Beliaghata. Swarnakamal Saha defeated Priyanka Tibrewal in Entally.

It is believed that the traders and businessmen generally vote for BJP. But this did not happen in Kolkata. "People from all walks of life particularly small traders and shopkeepers have voted for TMC en block as they have been badly hit by note ban and GST. The rise in the price of cooking gas, fuel and essential commodities also went against the BJP," analysts opined. Though the percentage of polling dropped in South and North Kolkata due to the second wave of pandemic, Trinamool was successful in getting the support of the majority of voters. "The organisation of TMC is far better than the BJP and this helped the party to consolidate its base in the city," analysts opined.