Trinamool retains Kaliganj, BJP only party to see vote share dip
Times of India | 24 June 2025
12 Kolkata: Trinamool Congress, predictably, held on to Kaliganj — the only assembly constituency in Bengal to go for a bypoll — defeating BJP by more than 50,000 votes to keep the state's Vidhan Sabha composition constant.BJP also lost a significant chunk of votes, its Monday tally of 52,710 being lower than the 64,709 it polled in the 2021 assembly elections; it was also the only major bloc to get a lower percentage of votes (compared to the 2021 assembly poll count). The Left Front-supported Congress candidate finished third but managed to increase vote share to 28,348, around 3,000 more than what it polled four years ago.Bypoll results overwhelmingly go in favour of the party in office but, still, the three numbers — Trinamool and Congress-LF's hike in vote share and BJP's haemorrhaging of support — will be analysed by party strategists as Bengal heads for assembly elections in 2026.Kaliganj is the first assembly constituency that has gone to vote after BJP's high-pitched and overtly visible attempts to polarise the electorate on communal lines, with its brass trying to frame the electoral contest as an "us-versus-jihadi battle".Its reduced vote share in this bypoll (28.2% compared to the 31% it got in 2021) and the fact that only about a half of the 1 lakh-plus Hindu voters of the constituency have voted for BJP indicate that even the majority community has not been impressed by its shrill Hindu-Muslim pitch. It remains to be seen whether BJP brass recalibrate their strategy for the 2026 assembly polls in the light of this failure to polarise voters in a constituency that has all the makings of a polarised electorate (like a large number of minority voters and its proximity to the India-Bangladesh border). BJP has always done better in such constituencies, from north Bengal to North 24 Parganas.CM Mamata Banerjee, in a post on X, acknowledged the "blessings... of people of all religions, castes, races and walks of life". "I humbly express my gratitude. We owe this victory to Ma-Mati-Manush," she said, while remembering former MLA Nasiruddin Ahmed, whose death necessitated this bypoll.Alifa Ahmed, Trinamool candidate and Nasiruddin's daughter, got 1,02,759 votes, a rise of 1.7% in vote share (compared to 2021). The 38-year-old engineer quit her IT job in Kolkata, following the example of Mahua Moitra, the party's MP from Krishnanagar (Kaliganj is a part of the Krishnanagar Lok Sabha constituency). Moitra also took to social media to express her delight at the poll results. "Satyameva Jayate," she posted. Alifa attributed her victory to "people's love" and thanked them for "reposing faith in Mamata Banerjee's development politics"."I do not agree that Hindus have not voted for us. We got significant leads from many Hindu-majority areas. We did not target votes from any particular community. We approached all voters. The results show their clear mandate is against any form of communal divide in Bengal," she added.Assembly opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari stuck to his "Hindu" pitch. "We have reaped the benefits of the Hindu vote. The effort has paid off as we have got an overwhelming majority of votes from Hindu-dominated areas like Plassey," he said, adding that 54% Hindus had already come together. "Syama Prasad Mookerjee's Jana Sangha and today's BJP will come to office in Bengal if we can unify 70% Hindus," he said.Trinamool spokesperson Debangshu Bhattacharya contested Adhikari's claims. "BJP did not even get half of the estimated 1,08,000 Hindu votes in Kaliganj. It means more than half of Hindu votes have gone to non-BJP parties. Their logic of Hindu vote consolidation is failing repeatedly in Bengal. Adhikari should understand that attacking Mamata Banerjee is counter-productive," he said. Trinamool Rajya Sabha leader Derek O'Brien wrote: "Since the Lok Sabha elections of 2024, there have been 11 bypolls held in Bengal. The score so far: TMC = 11, all other parties = 0."Congress candidate Kabil Uddin Sheikh blamed BJP for attempting "religious polarisation". "Adhikari and (junior Union minister) Sukanta Majumdar spoke at four meetings in Kaliganj where they unambiguously called the Hindu voters to unite or else face obliteration. So the minority community, too, united and voted for Trinamool. BJP and Trinamool together ensured that votes were divided on communal lines," he alleged.