People of area repose trust in TMC despite Garden Reach tragedy

Kolkata: In the age of climate change if weather is an unpredictable factor then so were the electorates in the Lok Sabha elections where in Kolkata’s Garden Reach area, under Kolkata South Lok Sabha Constituency, most minority voters reposed their faith in the ruling party Trinamool congress (TMC) despite a building collapse in the area killing 13 persons during election season.

The fact that electorates have become unpredictable making it difficult to guess who they would vote for at the last moment became apparent in 2024 Lok Sabha polls. In the national scenario, BJP’s “over confidence” of winning 400 seats got decimated as the party struggled to cross 240 while in Bengal, where exit polls predicted a slump for the TMC and a rise for the saffron brigade, the latter stopped at 12 seats.

In Kolkata, where a vast area comes under Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), Trinamool councillors were told to ensure the party gets a lead from most wards. However, the area of Garden Reach was a worry for the ruling party as an unauthorised building collapsed in March in Ward 134 killing 13 persons and upending lives of the survivors. The ward came under the Assembly seat of state Cabinet minister and KMC Mayor Firhad Hakim.

However, the election results painted a different picture where it reportedly came to light that the TMC candidate for the Kolkata South seat, Mala Roy was leading from that seat with over 13,000 votes. Roy also visited the site on the day of the incident along with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Sources said the Opposition parties, especially the CPI(M) and the BJP, were more or less confident that the incident will have its repercussions on the ballot box. But, results showed that instead of TMC losing votes, it consolidated enough to get a lead.

The CPI(M) had fielded Saira Shah Halim, expecting to bag the minority votes from the area but results showed she was trailing in the second position to that of Mala Roy.

TMC insiders said the minority voters trusted the incumbent state government and in the time of BJP rule, they could not trust the Left who was accused by Mamata Banerjee of working for the saffron brigade to defeat TMC.