Back to battle

While BJP has the edge in the assembly bypolls, the Trinamool hopes to ride the momentum from the Lok Sabha elections and keep the four seats

- NILADRY SARKAR

WEST BENGAL, WHICH gave the Trinamool Congress a resounding victory in the Lok Sabha polls, stands poised for yet another electoral battle. The state will witness byelections in four assembly constituencies on July 10.

On the face of it, the bypolls may seem like an ordinary affair. However, the underlying equations, especially the ones going against the Trinamool, have made them interesting. The BJP had won three of the four seats—Raiganj, Ranaghat Dakshin and Bagdah—in the 2021 assembly elections. The byelections are being held after the BJP’s sitting MLAs resigned and unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha polls on Trinamool tickets. Maniktala, the fourth seat, has been lying vacant since 2022 after the death of Trinamool MLA, Sadhan Pande.

Krishna Kalyani, who won from Raiganj on a BJP ticket, defected to the Trinamool in October 2021, but he kept serving as a legislator. He resigned the seat and contested the Lok Sabha polls from the Raiganj parliament seat, but lost to Kartick Paul of the BJP. It was a disastrous performance by Kalyani, who trailed by over 45,000 votes in his own assembly segment. Despite the loss, Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee has reposed her trust in him, nominating him for the byelections. As he returns to Raiganj, his main rival is Manas Kumar Ghosh of the BJP, who defected from the Trinamool last year.

“I am 100 per cent confident about winning,” said Kalyani. “During the Lok Sabha elections, there were many issues like Sandeshkhali, which worked against me. This time, I will beat the BJP with the same margin as their lead in the Lok Sabha polls.”