The results of recent municipal elections in West Bengal reflect a clear gain for the BJP over the Congress and the CPM indicating that the BJP is becoming a force to reckon with in the State
Asim Kumar Mitra
Results of the recent municipal elections in West Bengal have reflected a clear gain for the BJP over the Congress and the CPM indicating that the BJP is becoming a force to reckon with in the state.
The recent election results of seven Municipal Boards have unquestionably established that the BJP is becoming a wave in the state. The people in West Bengal have expressed their opinion in favour of the BJP, although it is a fact that seat- wise the party did not fare well. But the vote percentage has recorded a considerable increase. It shows that the TMC could white-wash all other opposition parties including the Congress, the CPM, the RSP and others except the BJP. With only six seats won in the Municipal Election, the BJP held the second position. In the total of 148 seats in 7 Municipal Boards, the TMC captured 140 seats while the Forward Bloc got one and independent one.
Someone may legitimately ask a question whether polling for the said election was free and fair. The answer would be a big no. A news item published in The Telegraph headlined “POSER ON TMC VOTE JUMP” says,” Sheikh Ajgar Ali, the Trinamool candidate in Haldia municipality Ward 17 had set a record in Sunday’s civic polls by securing 4,923 of 4,958 votes cast, that is 98,29 per cent of the ballots. Asked about unusually high vote share, the 34-year-old tried his best to remain unflustered, “I work for people around the year and in turn, they have voted me this way. The people want to ride the tide of development brought about by Mamata Banerjee.” Ali said.
Despite Ali’s explanation, several Trinamool sources whom this newspaper spoke to said the margin was indeed “absurd”.
Even under these circumstances, the Bengal politics is taking a bipolar course with BJP fast occupying the space of the Left and the Congress across the state. Another newspaper said “BENGAL BJP INVADES LEFT-CONG TURF” saying that the defining trend is evident from the results of the recently held seven civic polls in which Narendra Modi’s party secured a 41,7% vote share in Jalpaiguri district’s Dhupguri municipality for the first time, a spectacular jump from the 8.6% share in 2012.
Dhupguri has a sizeable scheduled caste (Rajbanshi) and scheduled tribe population. It is 95 km from Naxalbari, where BJP chief Amit Shah had visited, in April, an Adivasi family whose members were later forced to join Trinamool. Despite this, the BJP has made inroads among Rajbanshis and SC/ST across the seven municipalities.
In terms of vote sharing, definitely TMC held the supreme position, but the BJP had carved its own space and ultimately civil poll results astonished one and all. It is a BJP wave that is prevailing in the state of West Bengal.
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