Mamata Crushes Hopes Of BJP And CPI (M) With By-Poll Clean Sweep

The outcome of the recently concluded bypolls for the six legislative assembly seats in Bengal has raised more questions than it has answered. The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamul Congress has won all the six seats by huge margins. It has to be remembered elections were held when the ruling party had been facing a seemingly unprecedented public outcry and also from the medical fraternity, in the immediate aftermath of the alleged rape and murder of a junior doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. The results clearly did not reflect any bearing or impact on the electorate of this unfortunate and uncalled for incident. The impact was neither felt in far-flung rural areas, nor in urban or semi-urban areas (there were at least two such urban or semi-urban constituencies among the six).

The most pertinent questions following such poll outcomes, therefore, are: Why were there no impacts of those regular protest rallies, agitations, work suspensions by doctors? Or, was there any negative political impact? How could TMC go on increasing its voting percentage and margins, despite alleged scams one after another? Why did opposition parties like BJP or CPIM or Congress fail so in cash in on so many issues? What would be the benefits of this bypoll outcome in the next state legislative assembly election, due in 2026? What will be the political fate of the BJP’s posterboy in the state- Suvendu Adhikari, who is also the Leader of the Opposition in the state? Why did attempts to build a narrative over CPI (M) coming up as the second political force also fail miserably? Even before getting into the answers to such questions, it can be said in no uncertain terms that the reactions of the state BJP leaders were as ludicrous as it could be. The explanation that one could not have expected anything better than this in the by-elections will be demotivating the party rank and file.

The argument like bypolls are always won by the ruling party does not hold good when there are example like Shamik Bhattacharya (one of the party’s top leaders in the state) going to Parliament winning a by-election. The fact is that BJP did not fight the election seriously. The fact also is that BJP, despite being such a strong force nationally, is yet to build its organisational base and election machinery in Bengal, without which it is next to impossible to win against Mamata’s formidable well-oiled election machinery. The seriousness of BJP’s central leadership to oust Mamata is also in question. The ploy by BJP and CPI (M) to malign the state, in the name of maligning Mamata and her party, and to reap narrow political benefits out of an untoward social issue, did not go down well with the electorate either. Time has come for the opposition leaders to realise that TV debates, opening social media war fronts or efforts to woo urban elite are not just enough to win elections. The sooner they realise this, the better it is for them. After all, 2026 is not that far-off, politically speaking!