West Bengal CM has cemented her image as a leader willing to take on the BJP
NS Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s victory The Bhabnipur by-election in West Bengal came as no surprise, but with a margin of victory and little resistance from opposition parties. Bharatiya Janata Party Has come as a shot for the ruling Trinamool Congress. Ms Banerjee’s record victory margin of 58,832 votes is more than double the victory margin won by a TMC candidate in the same constituency in the center of Kolkata five months ago in the state’s assembly elections. The ruling party won all three seats in the September 30 polls in the state. In Jangipur, the margin of victory for the TMC candidate was over 92,000 votes and in Samsarganj, the Trinamool Congress candidate won by over 26,000 votes. The TMC’s main opposition was the BJP in two of the three seats, but in Samserganj, the Congress candidate secured around 70,000 votes, taking the BJP to the third position. Although Ms. Banerjee could not win the Nandigram seat in the assembly elections earlier this year, her decision to contest from that seat gave her party a huge boost. With her election as an MLA to meet the six-month deadline, Ms Banerjee has limited her party’s impressive victory in May.
The results also cement his position as a leader who has the guts to take on the BJP, which left no stone unturned in its attempt to oust him. After the results of the by-election, the BJP has become stronger. This pitted a political greenhorn, Priyanka Tibrewal, to contest against the charismatic and popular Ms Banerjee. The West Bengal BJP, which found it difficult to find the right candidate to contest against TMC candidates in the assembly elections, is still grappling with the same challenge five months later. The central leadership of the BJP has stayed away from the campaign unlike earlier this year. The party’s state leaders were no match with the Trinamool Congress in strategy or popularity. The state unit of the BJP was hoping that the Election Commission of India (ECI) might not announce the elections within the six-month deadline that the chief minister would get. Apparently taken by surprise, he spent time challenging the EC’s decision in the courts rather than campaigning on the ground. The TMC government’s focus on cash transfers and other welfare schemes continues to garner voter support, while the issues of violence and corruption raised by the BJP have not kept pace with them. The results also point to the continued resistance to the BJP’s polarizing strategy in West Bengal and the party’s difficulty in crafting appropriate politics for the region.
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