Alipurduar: Despite BJP’s win, TMC recovers lost ground in tea belt
Alipurduar: Despite Manoj Tigga having won the Alipurduar seat, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has gained lost ground in the constituency with the welfare schemes of the state government, aimed at the tea belt, paying off. BJP’s candidate Manoj Tigga defeated TMC’s Prakash Chik Baraik by 75447 votes.
While Tigga secured 695314 votes, Prakash Chik Baraik got 619867 votes and RSP candidate Mili Oraon received only 39709 votes. Most of the tea belt supported TMC in this election. In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, BJP’s John Barla defeated TMC’s Dasharath Tirky by a margin of 2,35,603 votes. In the 2021 state Assembly elections, all seven seats under the Alipurduar Lok Sabha Constituency were won by the BJP. This time, even though the BJP won, the margin of victory has decreased significantly.
After winning the election, BJP’s Manoj said: “People love BJP in Alipurduar and that’s why this win is dedicated to their love.
I will definitely try to keep my promise to do something for the people of Alipurduar. The margin has decreased a bit this time, but a win is still a win. We will definitely scrutinise how the margin went down from 250,000 to 50,000 votes.” RSP candidate Mili Oraon, who received 50 per cent fewer votes than in the last election, said: “Our allies did not support us properly. In the state, TMC gained almost 30 seats, which is higher than in the last election. It seems that Mamata Banerjee has some charisma, which is why the people of Bengal voted for TMC. Our loss will definitely be scrutinised again and again.”
After losing the election, TMC’s Prakash Chik Baraik said: “This loss is eventually a win for us. We have won the hearts of the tea belt.
The public welfare projects of the Chief Minister, along with several schemes such as land leases and Cha-sundari for tea plantation workers, have won their support. This has enabled us to reduce the gap from almost 235,603 votes in 2019 to 75447 votes this year. We still have a lot of hearts to win, so perhaps we didn’t win the vote this year. I hope the tea garden workers will be with us in the coming days.”
Political circles believe that the Chief Minister’s various schemes for tea plantation workers have influenced the results of this year’s polls in Alipurduar. As a result, the Trinamool is expected to be far ahead in winning these seven Assembly seats in the Alipurduar Lok Sabha constituency in the upcoming 2026 Assembly elections.
