Kolkata: As Opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari and state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar face criticism from sidelined senior party leaders over the drop in Hindu vote share in the recently concluded Kaliganj Assembly bypoll, the RSS is reportedly unhappy with the election outcome.
Sources in the BJP said that a team of RSS remained active in Kaliganj.
It may submit a report to its central leaders as to why the BJP’s vote share has dropped among the Hindu population.
This comes as a worrying sign for the BJP ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections. Following the party’s defeat in Kaliganj, Suvendu Adhikari claimed the BJP had led in Hindu-dominated booths and that Hindu voter unity would be evident in future polls. However, the RSS is reportedly not convinced by Adhikari’s explanation.
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 by-election in Kaliganj. The voting margins were getting bigger for the ruling party’s candidates.
Since the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Bengal has witnessed bypolls in 11 Assembly constituencies – and Trinamool Congress has secured a clean sweep, winning all 11 seats. Significantly, the BJP had led in four of these segments—Raiganj, Ranaghat Dakshin, Bagdah and Madarihat—during the general elections, but failed to retain any of them in the by-elections.
Trinamool not only held its ground but also improved its vote share in each of the contests, signaling growing public support.
The BJP’s poor performance comes amid deepening internal rifts within its Bengal unit. Persistent factionalism has weakened the party’s grassroots structure, posing a serious challenge ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.
The bypoll results clearly reflect the mood of the electorate – a rejection of the BJP’s polarising politics and a renewed endorsement of Mamata Banerjee’s development-driven governance.