Mamata Banerjee led Trinamool Congress party slapped the Congress party and the I.N.D.I Alliance by voluntarily announcing its candidates for the all 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal for 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The I.N.D.I Alliance faced two big setbacks in quick succession. In Uttar Pradesh Mayawati declared to contest the Lok Sabha elections not only in Uttar Pradesh but in all States on her own. Secondly Mamata Banerjee’s announcement of all 42 candidates without any consultation with I.N.D.I Alliance parties was also a big blow to the alliance ambitions to unseat the NDA dispensation at Centre.
2019 Lok Sabha poll in West Bengal was between the BJP and the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC). On most of the seats the contest was between these two parties. The Congress party was in direct contest on only three seats. The Congress won two seats and was runner up on one seat. The Congress party won Maldaha Dakshin and Baharampur Lok Sabha seats and was runner on Murshidabad Lok Sabha seat. All three seats are known for their Muslim voters’ concentration. The Congress party got a ray of hope of alliance with Mamata Banerjee due to its performance in Sagardighi assembly by-poll in Murshidabad district. The Congress party won the seat defeating AITC in 2023 by a comfortable margin of 23000 votes. The Congress party won the seat last time in 1972 Assembly elections and the party was on 3rd spot in the 2021 Assembly elections. But the Congress party increased its vote share to nearly 2.5 times in the by-poll and defeated AITC in the direct contest. Though the MLA Bayron Biswas joined the AITC sooner than later. The tally of the Congress party again came to zero after defection of Bayron Biswas to the AITC. In 4 States including West Bengal the Congress party has no MLAs. Other States are NCT of Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim and Nagaland.
Mamata Banerjee put Yusuf Pathan from Baharampur Lok Sabha seat against her betenoire Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary of the Congress party. Mamata Banerjee will put her best effort to ensure defeat of Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary. Mamata brought a candidate with celebrity status from Gujarat to ensure defeat of Chaudhary. This shows the intolerance of Mamata Banerjee with Chaudhary. The AITC candidate from. Maldaha Uttar is also surprising. Maldaha Uttar is Muslim dominated Lok Sabha seat but AITC put a non-Muslim. The AITC has put Kirti Azad as its candidate from Bardhman-Durgapur Lok Sabha seat. Kirti Azad is not only changing his Lok Sabha seat but also the State too for the last three Lok Sabha elections. In 2009 he won from Darbhanga as BJP candidate. In 2014 he contested from Dhanbad Lok Sabha seat as Congress party candidate. After losing shabbily from Dhanbad he joined the AITC. And the AITC has put him as a candidate from Bardhman-Durgapur Lok Sabha seat. Kirti Azad contested the last three Lok Sabha elections from three different parties, different seats from different States. The AITC candidate from Asansol Lok Sabha seat Shatrughan Sinha lost 2014 Lok Sabha poll as Congress party candidate from Patna Sahib seat in Bihar as Congress party candidate and then joined the AITC.
Its a moot question whether Mamata Banerjee had taken the correct step by sidelining the Congress party and the INDI alliance. The Congress party has virtually no mass base in West Bengal as of now. In the 2021 Assembly elections in West Bengal the Congress party and the Communists were not able to open their account even though they contested in alliance with the Sanyukta Morcha . Both the parties have failed to open their account even though they were in alliance. But by contesting all 294 seats the Morcha won only one seat. The seat was won by Indian Secular Front (ISF). ISF won the Bhangar assembly seat. The downfall of the Sanjukta Morcha parties in the 2021 West Bengal Assembly election was really surprising. The Congress party had 44 MLAs in outgoing Assembly and the party was the main Opposition party in West Bengal Assembly had failed to open
its account in 2021 WB Assembly elections. The CPM which had 26 MLAs in the previous Assembly also failed to open its account. The main reason for such a pitiable performance by the Sanjukta Morcha alliance was the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP)’s applaudable performance. The BJP occupied the entire space of Opposition in West Bengal. The Communists who were once a formidable force in West Bengal relegated to only a marginal player.
In 2019 Lok Sabha elections the CPM was not in direct contest on any of the 42 Lok Sabha seats. The Communists and Mamata Banerjee are avowed political opponents. The Communists may vote tacitly to defeat Mamata Banerjee. The cadres of Communists may vote to those candidates who will be in position to defeat AITC candidates.
The AITC should be aware of the Congress party policy of engineering defeat to its friend turned opponent. In 2009 in Bihar during Lok Sabha elections the Rashtriya Janta Dal and the Lok Janshakti Party(LJP) had fought in alliance without accommodating the Congress party. The Congress party put such candidates into the alliance vote bank and the alliance lost badly in Bihar in 2009 Lok Sabha poll. Even Ramvilas Paswan lost from his traditional seat of Hajipur. Again in 2010 Bihar Assembly elections the Congress party divided the RJD/LJP alliance vote and the seat tally of these parties came down to 22 and 3 seats respectively. Rabri Devi, ex-CM, lost from two seats of Raghopur and Sonpur. This all was engineered by the Congress party to cut these parties down to size. Now these parties accommodate the Congress party by giving Congress more seats than their due share. In the last Assembly elections the RJD gave 70 seats to the Congress party and the Congress party won only 19 seats.
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