It was expected. People and political watchers were only discussing the difference that Didi can register. now know it all Mamata Banerjee Bhawanipur has won the by-election with the highest margin since 2011. So another big win for Mamata, another show of strength by the Trinamool Congress. Ministers, MPs, MLAs and lakhs of party workers have got relief after the much-discussed embarrassment in Nandigram.
The BJP did its best, fighting a fierce battle against the mighty Mamata. Even if the estimate was drawn by the BJP, no one in the party would dream of repeating April and making history. Yes, the scene in Nandigram and the ground reality was different. There the party had the grassroots connect and organizational skills of Suvendu Adhikari.
A look at the Bhawanipur stats makes it easy to understand why Nandigram was a risky gamble for Mamta.
Read also: TMC spent over Rs 154.28 crore for campaigning in West Bengal Assembly elections
Bhawanipur has been a TMC stronghold since 2011. It had won the seat in the historic 2011 assembly elections when Mamata ousted the Left from power. Mamta also won in the by-elections that followed. In 2016 he got another comfortable win from Bhabanipur. In the 2015 Kolkata municipal elections, the TMC won seven wards in Bhabnipur, while the BJP could win only ward number 70.
But later BJP councilor Aseem Basu joined the TMC camp. It was a challenge for all these councilors to ensure a landslide victory for the party supremo as anything to the contrary would have resulted in them losing their seats in the municipal elections. It was also a major challenge for cabinet minister Firhad Hakim, as he was eager to retain the coveted post of mayor of Kolkata.
A united Trinamool ensured that voters loyal to the party came out and reached the polling stations. This is the reason that highest turnout was recorded in Ward 77. TMC workers ensured maximum turnout from slums in the assembly constituency, where people have remained loyal to the party for several social schemes launched by the Mamata government.
Read also | Bharat to Bhabnipur for Mamta? Bengal CM won do or die by-elections, better record of 2011
In contrast, the three wards – 63, 70 and 74 – had a much lower turnout than the majority of non-Bengali voters that the BJP was relying on. This low turnout is difficult to analyze. What’s a bad game – voter apathy or bad weather?
The BJP blames this for alleged voter intimidation and “fake voting”. In a post-results press release, the party said: “Violence was unleashed on BJP workers by TMC workers with the support of TMC ministers, who were openly intimidating common people to vote. Sadly, the Election Commission did nothing to allay the fears of the voters. The elections, especially in Bhabnipur, were largely affected by bogus voting.”
After the collapse in Nandigram, Mamata Banerjee may have survived in Bhabnipur, but it has never happened that a losing candidate has elected herself as the chief minister, violating all democratic norms and propriety. BJP Bengal statement pic.twitter.com/w3M8TbZabT— BJP Bengal (@BJP4Bengal) 3 October 2021
The TMC has denied the BJP’s allegations, while the Election Commission has also denied alleged incidents of “fake voting”.
Ultimately, the arithmetic went in favor of the TMC, but the BJP has not been left empty handed. Even though the BJP leadership in the state was against holding the bypolls on the pretext of the pandemic, the party bosses in Delhi maintained a strategic silence. BJP insiders in Delhi say the party wanted to be more politically active in the state to boost morale after the humiliating defeat in the assembly polls and alleged post-poll violence.
BJP leaders in Delhi realized that unless they took to the streets, it would be difficult to reactivate the ground forces ahead of next year’s municipal elections and 2023 panchayat elections, which in turn preface the 2024 general elections. Will be
Instead of taking heavy risks against Mamata, the BJP opted to gamble on Priyanka Tibrewal, whose fierce legal battle in the High Court ensured the order for a CBI probe into the alleged post-poll violence. The BJP through Tibrewal wanted to keep the post-poll violence fresh in voter memory throughout the campaign.
In its press release, the Bengal BJP also said: “The elections were held under a domineering state administration, which cast a shadow of fear, intimidation and post-poll violence on voters.”
It was no surprise when newly-appointed state president Sukant Majumdar said at a rally: “This was not post-poll violence. It was a state-sponsored targeted killing of a particular community.”
BJP fielded Union ministers Smriti Irani and Hardeep Singh Puri to campaign in Bhabanipur; Manoj Tiwari and Sambit Patra were also brought in to woo the non-Bengali voters. The BJP may have lost the election, but it has been able to tell the public that it stands as the only credible opposition to the TMC.
The last major stakeholder in the by-election was the Election Commission. It had come under fire during the 2021 assembly elections over its decision to hold elections in eight phases amid the pandemic. The TMC has dragged the Election Commission into the dock over all its decisions, including the deployment of CRPF to protect the state officials.
This time the onus was on the Election Commission to prove TMC wrong. It surprised all the stakeholders by announcing the Bhabhanipur election schedule, when it looked like the pandemic would not allow one and Mamata would have to give up the CM’s chair as she could not get elected to the House within six months of taking oath. .
Read also | ‘EC has closed eyes and ears’: Bengal BJP VP Arjun Singh alleges rigging in Bhabnipur
This time BJP accused the Election Commission of supporting Mamta. Speaking to News18, state BJP vice-president and Barrackpore MP Arjun Singh said that the Election Commission has “completely failed” in its duty of conducting fair elections. “There was massive rigging and booth capturing, but surprisingly the EC closed its eyes and ears. False voters were caught on camera but no action was taken despite giving written complaint. We are surprised by the stand of the Election Commission. I will definitely take this matter to the highest level of the party.
A high-ranking Election Commission official in Delhi, on condition of anonymity, said: “We wanted to fulfill our constitutional obligations of being fair to all concerned. We’ve done that.”
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