LS polls: Votes of Assembly seats determined TMC & BJP’s fate
Kolkata: Both Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs elected in 2021 state Assembly polls and fielded in the recently-concluded Lok Sabha elections had mixed fortunes in terms of victory or defeat as many were able to gain lead from their respective Assembly seats while others saw disappointment.
BJP’s Manoj Tigga who bagged the Alipurduar Parliamentary Constituency (PC) this time had previously won from Madarihat Assembly segment in 2021. He got a lead of 11,000 votes from Madarihat in the Lok Sabha polls. On the contrary, Bishnu Prasad Sharma, a BJP MLA who contested as an Independent candidate from Darjeeling PC, had his security deposit forfeited after the elections. He managed only 1,068 votes from his Kurseong Assembly segment.
BJP candidate from Malda South, Srirupa Mitra Chowdhury lost the Lok Sabha polls but managed a lead of 82,000 votes from the Assembly segment of English Bazar where she won in 2021. The Murshidabad PC’s BJP candidate Gouri Sankar Ghosh who lost the Parliamentary polls managed a lead of 8,000 votes in Murshidabad Assembly segment.
TMC candidate from Balurghat PC, Biplab Mitra lost to BJP’s Sukanta Majumdar but gained a lead of 10,000 votes in his Assembly segment Harirampur. Trinamool’s Uttam Barik who lost the Contai PC seat to BJP managed a lead of 8,000 votes in Patashpur Assembly segment which he won in 2021. Incidentally, three BJP MLAs who defected to TMC and were offered tickets to contest in the Lok Sabha polls were defeated and also failed to secure lead in their respective Assembly seats.
Krishna Kalyani who had won in BJPs ticket from Raiganj Assembly in 2021 was defeated from Raiganj PC and lost votes from his Assembly seat. Mukutmani Adhikari, who contested on TMC ticket from Ranaghat PC, suffered the same fate and so did Biswajit Das from Bongaon PC.
Jagdish Chandra Basunia, TMC candidate from Cooch Behar PC, defeated BJP’s Nisith Pramanik and managed a lead of over 28,000 votes from the Sitai Assembly which he won in 2021. TMC candidate from Jalpaiguri PC, Nirmal Chandra Roy lost the Lok Sabha polls and also trailed in Dhupguri Assembly seat which he won in 2021.TMC’s winning candidates Partha Bhowmick from Barrackpore, June Malia from Medinipur, Arup Chakraborty from Bankura and Hazi Nurul Islam from Basirhat also gained lead from their respective Assembly seats.
Four other BJP MLAs were also fielded in the Lok Sabha this year but those seats did not include the Assembly seats they won in 2021. All four lost the Lok Sabha elections but the party managed a lead in their Assembly seats.
Agnimitra Pal lost from Midnapore PC but her party secured a lead in her Asansol South Assembly seat. Swapan Majumdar was defeated at Barasat PC but BJP gained a lead in his Assembly seat of Bongaon South. Ashim Sarkar was defeated from Burdwan East PC but his party secured a lead in his Haringhata Assembly seat segment. Hiran Chattopadhyay lost from Ghatal but his party managed a lead from Kharagpur Sadar which he won in the 2021 state elections.
