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Victory of INDIA team: Mamata Banerjee after TMC wrests Dhupguri seat from BJP
TMC candidate Nirmal Chandra Roy, a history professor from Dhupguri Girls College, secured 96,961 votes while 92,648 votes went to BJP candidate Tapasi Roy
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday urged voters across the nation to observe the performance of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) alliance partners after her party, the Trinamool Congress (TMC), regained control over the Dhupguri assembly seat in north Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district by defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by 4,313 votes in a close contest.
Shortly before leaving for Delhi to attend the G20 summit, Banerjee said: “This is the victory of the INDIA team. I hope people of this country will observe the results of all assembly bypolls held in various states and take their decisions in the Lok Sabha elections.”
“I congratulate the people of Dhupguri. This is a historic victory. BJP had won the local Lok Sabha seat (in 2019). Their (Union) ministers campaigned extensively. All local hotels were booked by them for one month,” Banerjee added.
The September 5 bypoll was held due to the demise of BJP’s sitting legislator Bishnu Pada Roy. In the 2021 state polls, Bishnu had defeated TMC’s then-sitting MLA Mitali Roy by 4,355 votes. Two days before the bypoll, Mitali Roy joined BJP.
In the Dhupguri bypolls, TMC candidate Nirmal Chandra Roy, a history professor from Dhupguri Girls College, secured 96,961 votes while 92,648 votes went to BJP candidate Tapasi Roy, the wife of Central Armed Police Force (CRPF) personnel Jagannath Roy, who was among the 40 soldiers killed in the 2019 terror attack at Pulwama in Kashmir.
Ishwar Chandra Roy, a retired school teacher and folk singer fielded by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI-M] with support from the Congress got only 13,608 votes and lost his election deposit.
The seat is reserved for the scheduled caste community and all parties fielded members of the local Rajbangshi community which constitutes a sizeable section of the region’s population.
As Dhupguri witnessed a close contest, the credit for TMC’s victory went to its national general secretary and the chief minister’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee.
While addressing a campaign rally on August 2, Abhishek, despite not being a part of the state government, promised voters that Dhupguri would be made an administrative sub-division by December 31. The demand was raised by local people years ago.
“I am not saying we will think about it. I am not saying we will discuss it. This is my commitment. I will get it done by December 31,” Abhishek had said.
Even the BJP leaders admitted that Abhishek’s speech influenced voters.
“I was confident that victory would be ours. It seems the promise on sub-divisional status for Dhupguri changed everything,” BJP candidate Tapasi Roy told the local media.
Mitali Roy, too, said the promise my by Abhishek led to a shift in votes.
“A section of BJP voters switched over to the other side,” said Roy who attended Banerjee’s rally before joining the saffron camp 24 hours later.
Dhupguri witnessed hectic campaigning as the north Bengal region has turned into a BJP stronghold since 2019 when it bagged 18 of the state’s 42 Lok Sabha seats, creating a record. In north Bengal, the BJP secured seven of the eight Lok Sabha seats.
In the 2021 assembly polls, BJP could only bag 75 of the state’s 294 seats but in north Bengal, it captured 30 of the 54 segments.
After Friday’s defeat, BJP’s tally in the assembly has now effectively come down to 69 since five of its legislators joined the TMC.
Although CPI(M) is a part of the INDIA alliance formed by national and regional forces opposed to the BJP, its central committee has allowed the Bengal unit to contest against TMC in 2024. The national leadership of the Congress has so far not taken any official stand regarding Bengal.
Congress and the Left parties could not win any assembly seat in 2021, marking their zero presence at the state assembly for the first time since Independence.
On August 1, while campaigning at Dhupguri, state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and CPI(M) state secretary Md Salim branded TMC and BJP as their common enemies at the time when leaders of the opposition coalition were holding their third meeting in Mumbai.
“The organisations of the Congress and Left are weak in Dhupguri. We never claimed we will win this seat,” Chowdhury said on Friday.
“Voters who wanted to see the BJP defeated supported a party that has to the strength to achieve it. The same was done by those who wanted TMC’s defeat,” CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said.
