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Express News Service
KOLKATA: The ruling Trinamool Congress continued its juggernaut in Bengal where it snatched two assembly seats, including one that falls in the Lok Sabha constituency of a Union minister, from the BJP and retained two others by bagging around 75 per cent votes.
In its so-called citadel of North Bengal, the BJP lost Dinhata constituency, which is part of Union minister Nisith Pramanik’s Cooch Behar Lok Sabha constituency. It also stumbled in Shantipur at Nadia where the Matuas shifted their political allegiance to the TMC. Worse, the BJP candidates lost its deposit in Dinhata, Khardah and Gosaba.
Ssensing a tough electoral battle, the BJP left no stone unturned to retain Dinhata and Shantipur. Incidentally, Pramanik had won by a razor-thin margin of 57 votes in the Lok Sabha polls. “Once, Dinhata was a stronghold of the Left Front’s ally Forward Bloc. Its vote-bank supported the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections paving the saffron camp deep inroads in north Bengal. In the 2021 Assembly elections, the TMC caused a dent on the Bloc’s vote-bank that shifted to the BJP and as a result, a tooth and nail battle took place resulting in Praminik’s slender win. In the by elections, the TMC candidate won with a margin of over 1.64 lakh votes which indicates en bloc support to our party,’’ said a TMC leader.
The ruling party was confident about retaining Gosaba and Khardah as both seats fall in its strongholds. In Nadia’s Shantipur, the TMC leader said, the Matuas realised that they were duped by the BJP. “Ahead of the previous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, the BJP promised Matuas that it is implementing the CAA and the NRC. But a few months ago, the Centre said in Parliament that CAA and NRC would not be implemented in near future,’’ he said.
Daunting position The TMC’s strength in the 294-member Bengal Assembly has now rose to 215, while the BJP’s tally has come down to 75
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