TMC clean sweeps, Oppn’s RG Kar poll plank flops; BJP routed in Madarihat, Left stays invisible

Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) swept to a resounding victory in all six Assembly bypolls in Bengal, not only retaining its dominance but also increasing its winning margins. The Opposition’s attempts to rally support around contentious issues, such as the RG Kar rape-and-murder case, fell flat, leaving little impact on the electorate.

The triumph in Madarihat, a historic win where the TMC wrested the seat from the BJP’s grasp, has sent ripples through political circles. The thumping victory in Sitai has added to the celebrations in the North Bengal region. Analysts are now speculating whether this signals the beginning of the end of the saffron camp’s stronghold in North Bengal.

One of the main issues for the BJP’s defeat can be attributed to the party grappling with internal conflicts in the region, felt political observers.

Meanwhile, after the results were announced, on Saturday, taking to social media, TMC chairperson Mamata Banerjee thanked the people of Bengal and reiterated that the results of the by-elections would inspire her party to work for the people.

Trinamool’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee also took to social media to congratulate his party colleagues for the landslide victory.

With this victory, TMC’s tally in the 294-member state Assembly has risen to 216, while BJP’s seat dropped to 69 from 77 in 2021.

Trinamool retained all five seats—Haroa, Naihati, Taldangra, Midnapore and Sitai— and wrested the Madarihat seat from the BJP Region, felt political observers.

Meanwhile, after the results were announced, on Saturday, taking to social media, TMC chairperson Mamata Banerjee thanked the people of Bengal and reiterated that the results of the by-elections would inspire her party to work for the people.

Trinamool’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee also took to social media to congratulate his party colleagues for the landslide victory.

With this victory, TMC’s tally in the 294-member state Assembly has risen to 216, while BJP’s seat dropped to 69 from 77 in 2021.

Trinamool retained all five seats—Haroa, Naihati, Taldangra, Midnapore and Sitai— and wrested the Madarihat seat from the BJP which had won it

by 22000 votes in 2016 and 29,685 votes in 2021. TMC’s Joy Prakash Toppo defeated his nearest rival, Rahul Lohar of the BJP by 30,309 votes.

TMC’s vote share surged to 54.05 per cent while the BJP’s share dropped to 34 per cent.

Sangita Roy, the TMC candidate in Sitai won by a huge margin of 1,30,156 votes, an improvement from the vote margin in 2021 when it was just over 10,000.

TMC’s vote share surged compared to the 2021 state elections. BJP’s share plummeted from about 45 per cent to about 16 per cent.

Sanat Dey of TMC defeated BJP’s Rupak Mitra by a convincing margin of 49277 votes in Naihati, improving his margin of 2021 when it was 18855. Interestingly, Naihati is only 15-odd kilometres from the residence of the rape and murder victim of RG Kar.

TMC’s vote share increased to 62.97 per cent, up from 50 per cent in 2021 while BJP’s share fell to 23.58 per cent, a significant drop from 38 per cent in 2021.

In Haroa, another seat in North 24-Parganas, Rabiul Islam of TMC defeated Piyarul Islam of the Indian Secular Front (ISF) by over 1.31 lakh votes, improving on his 2021 margin of 80,978 votes.

The saffron party’s Bimal Das secured third place.

Falguni Singhababu of TMC won the Taldangra bypoll in Bankura by 34,082 votes, defeating nearest rival Ananya Roy Chakraborty of BJP. Singhababu improved the 2021 winning margin of 12377. In Midnapore, TMC candidate Sujoy Hazra won by 33,996 votes over BJP’s Subhajit Roy.

When questioned about the impact of the RG Kar incident in the bypolls, senior TMC leader Firhad Hakim said: “There is no difference in the basic demand of the junior doctors and us. We all want exemplary punishment for the person responsible for the heinous crime. The state government has already taken several measures to boost safety and security in the hospitals. There is no reason for the issue to have any impact. The people of Bengal have voted for development and our Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is committed to the welfare of the people of the state.”

With some sections of the Opposition parties attributing TMC’s victory to violence on poll day, political observers say such allegations become baseless with the election body itself declaring that the poll process was peaceful, barring some stray incidents.

Conceding defeat, BJP state president Sukanta Majumder claimed that these results were expected in bypolls. “We are hopeful that we will win the 2026 Assembly polls,” he said.

However, former Union minister and BJP MP John Barla blamed the party’s state leadership and district president Manoj Tigga for the loss.

Even the BJP national vice-president blamed the wrong strategy and a section of the BJP leadership for the defeat.

“We did not do well in the Lok Sabha polls. Bypoll results have also not gone well. The current leadership should review this. We are on a downward trend,” stated Dilip Ghosh.

The results were another shocker for the CPI(M)-led Left Front, which hoped to capitalise on the RG Kar protests to revive its fortunes. The Left faced a crushing defeat, losing its deposit in Sitai, Taldangra, Medinipur and Madarihat.

Its ally CPI(ML) Liberation too forfeited its deposit in Naihati while the All India Secular Front (ISF) faced the same fate in Haroa.

The Congress, which contested without an alliance with the Left for the first time since 2021, faced a similar fate as its former allies in Bengal. It lost deposits in all six constituencies.