Raiganj: Cong candidate splits minority votes
Raiganj: The division of minority votes amongst the TMC and Congress acted at the behest of the BJP in Raiganj, securing victory for Kartick Chandra Pal. After the completion of the 13th round of counting, Kartick Chandra Paul, BJP candidate, had secured 558644 votes; Krishna Kalyani of TMC 491150 and Ali Imran Ramz of Congress had acquired 262694 votes. Paul led by 67494 votes.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, BJP candidate Debasree Chaudhuri had won from Raiganj Parliamentary seat after defeating Kanaiyalal Agarwal of TMC by a margin of 60655 votes. At that time the TMC had two MLAs, in Goalpokhar and Karandighi only.
In the 2021 Assembly elections, the situation reversed with the TMC winning in five Assembly seats, including Islampur, Goalpokhar, Chakulia, Karandighi and Hemtabad. BJP had won in Kaliaganj and Raiganj. Krishna Kalyani who won from Raiganj Assembly seat on a BJP ticket in 2021 later joined TMC. He was made the TMC candidate from Raiganj Parliamentary seat this year. A section of TMC leaders reportedly did not accept him as the TMC candidate. Ali Imran Ramz of Congress after the completion of 11th round counting had managed to secure more than 1,75,000 votes.
He reportedly managed to secure high figures in many minority populated booths of Goalpokhar, Chakulia and Karandighi Assembly segments. On the other hand, TMC got less votes than BJP in Karandighi, Raiganj, Hemtabad and Kaliyaganj Assembly areas.Kanaiyalal Agarwal, president of North Dinajpur TMC committee, said: “This time we had a great chance of victory in the Raiganj seat. A considerable number of our votes have shifted to Congress in Goalpokhar and Chakulia Assembly areas. We did not get a satisfactory number of votes from some places. Our votes have been reduced in Karandighi, Raiganj, Kaliyaganj and Hemtabad. Very soon we will have a discussion on it. We will have to recover it before the 2026 Assembly elections.”
Meanwhile a jubilant Paul stated: “The Modi wave helped me win. My priority is to develop my constituency and fulfill the assurances that
I have made.”
