KOLKATA: The Trinamool Congress on Saturday won all the six Assembly constituencies that went to a bye-election in Bengal earlier this month. The State’s ruling party retained Naihati, Haroa, Medinipur, Taldangra and Sitai Assembly, which it had won in the 2021 Assembly polls and also won the Madarihat seat which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had won in the last Assembly polls.The results also assume significance as it comes after sustained protests over the rape and murder of a doctor at Kolkata’s R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital. The victory of the Trinamool Congress in six Assembly polls across five districts indicates that protests did not make any dent in the electoral prospects of the Trinamool Congress.The seats had fallen vacant after the MLAs representing the Assembly constituencies were elected to Lok Sabha earlier this year. The results at the Haroa Assembly constituency, where Trinamool Congress candidate S. K. Rabiul Islam won by a margin of 1.31 lakh votes threw an interesting surprise as the Indian Secular Front candidate finished second securing more votes than the BJP nominee. Haroa, located in North 24 Parganas district is a minority-dominated constituency and it fell vacant after Haji Nurul Islam the MLA from the seat contested and won the Lok Sabha elections at Basirhat.At the Sitai Assembly seat in Cooch Behar district Trinamool Sangita Roy defeated the BJP nominee by a margin of about 1.30 lakh votes. At Madarihat, another seat in north Bengal, Trinamool’s Jayprakash Toppo defeated the BJP candidate by a margin of over 28,000 votes. Mahadarihat in Alipurduar district was considered a stronghold of the BJP.Trinamool Congress candidate Sanat Dey won the Naihati seat in North 24 Parganas by a margin of over 49,000 votes whereas Sujoy Hazra of the state’s ruling party won the Medinipur seat with a margin of over 33,000 votes. At Taldangra seat, Trinamool’s Falguni Singhababu won by a margin of about 34,000 votes.Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the party’s general secretary Abhishek Banerjee congratulated party supporters for the victory in the bypolls. While the Chief Minister thanked ‘Maa, Mati and Manush’ for the victory, her nephew thanked the people of the State “for democratically dismantling the Bangla Birodhis, their fake narratives and reaffirming their trust in us.”“Congratulations to all six AITC official candidates for their decisive victories in the WB by-elections, defying the narratives created by the zamindars, the media and a section of the Kolkata HC to defame Bengal for their own vested interests. A special thanks to the people of Madarihat for giving us the opportunity to serve you for the first time,” the party general secretary said.The West Bengal unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said that the results were on expected lines and in the bypolls, the state’s ruling party has an edge“Do not get worried… we will win these seats in 2026,” Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari said. West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar also gave examples of how some seats were lost in bypolls, and how the party reclaimed such constituencies in the past.The loss in the bypolls is one of many electoral setbacks to the party since the 2021 Assembly polls. In the Lok Sabha polls, held earlier this year the BJP could win only 12 Lok Sabha seats whereas the number of Trinamool Congress MLAs increased to 29 seats from West Bengal. Earlier this year, the Trinamool Congress had won bypolls to four Assembly constituencies in West Bengal, winning two seats which the BJP had won in 2021 Assembly polls.The bypolls were also interesting as the Communist Party of India (Marxist) led Left Front and the Congress party fielded candidates separately on all the six seats. Both the parties could not make an electoral impact in the bypolls and questions were raised whether both the groups will join hands again.
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