Kolkata: Following an internal review meeting of the Burdwan East Lok Sabha constituency, Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Thursday said that the vote margin of his party candidate will increase in the seat in this election compared to the 2019 Parliamentary polls.
The party shared on its social media X handle that Abhishek was warmly received by party leaders in Burdwan East as he arrived for the internal review meeting.
After the meeting, Abhishek told reporters that TMC will see an increase in vote margin this time compared to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. He predicted that TMC would lead in all seven Assembly seats under the Burdwan East Lok Sabha constituency.
In the Burdwan East seat, Trinamool is already at an advantage if the 2019 Parliamentary elections and 2021 state Assembly polls are anything to go by. In both the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections, TMC’s Sunil Kumar Mondal won the seat.
However, in 2024, TMC has fielded Dr Sharmila Sarkar who will be contesting against BJP’s Ashim Kumar Sarkar and CPI(M)’s Nirab Khan. This Lok Sabha seat comprises the following seven Assembly seats: Raina (SC), Jamalpur (SC), Kalna (SC), Memari, Purbasthali North, Purbasthali South and Katwa. In the 2021 Assembly elections, Trinamool had won all
seven seats. In the 2019 polls, the vote share of TMC was 44.9 per cent while that of the BJP was 38.6 per cent followed by CPI(M) at 12.3 per cent. However, the vote share of BJP in the 2021 Assembly elections rose to 40.4 per cent against TMC’s 47 per cent. This time the seat is expecting a neck-to-neck fight between these two parties.
The majority of the voters in this Lok Sabha seat belong to the SC category which is around 27.41 per cent while 20.73 per cent of the population there are Muslims.
Political analysts are of the opinion that BJP will only stand a chance if it can eat into the pie of SC votes, the majority of which are destined to land in Trinamool’s lap. However, not all is well within the BJP as its party workers have revolted against the candidate Asim Kumar Sarkar. The rebels even wrote walls against Sarkar in certain areas like Ausgram, Purbasthali, Memari and Jamalpur. In Jamalpur, Sarkar was denied entry to certain villages too. On the other hand, CPI(M)’s candidate Nirab Khan may just be able to split the Muslim votes which otherwise are destined towards Trinamool.
Overall, the ruling party in Bengal is apparently in an advantageous position in this Lok Sabha seat.