Trinamool tsunami washes away BJP in Barrackpore
KOLKATA: In the recently-concluded state Assembly polls, a Trinamool Congress (TMC) tsunami has swept BJP in six out of seven Assembly seats under Barrackpore Parliamentary constituency, that once witnessed the victory of Arjun Singh, a Trinamool turncoat in 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Except Noapara and Amdanga Assembly constituencies, Trinamool lost to BJP in all other five Assembly segments during the last Lok Sabha. A 'reign of terror' unleashed by Singh to capture political ground in the region and to hold on to it by aggression eventually led TMC to a convincing win in six seats this time, opined political analysts.
BJP managed to bag only Bhatpara as TMC increased its vote percentage in this Assembly segment also compared to that of Lok Sabha. But, TMC won all the other six seats — Amdanga, Bijpur, Naihati, Jagatdal, Noapara and Barrackpore. Non-Bengali voters, whom the BJP tried to bank upon, seemed to have voted for Trinamool Congress not only in Barrackpore but also in various other parts of North 24-Parganas as well.
In Bhatpara seat, BJP's Pawan Kumar Singh, Arjun's son defeated TMC's Jitendra Shaw by a margin of 13,687 votes this election. Pawan defeated Trinamool leader Madan Mitra by 23,104 votes in by-elections in 2019. In Lok Sabha 2019, Arjun had a lead of 29,707 votes from Bhatpara segment against the then TMC candidate Dinesh Trivedi. It shows that TMC gained some ground here also.
Rafiqur Rahaman of TMC won against BJP's Joydev Manna by 25,480 votes from Amdanga Assembly seat this year. Rahaman had a margin of 22,965 in 2016. Trivedi had a lead of 36,566 votes over Singh in this segment during Lok Sabha. In Bijpur, Subodh Adhikary of Trinamool defeated BJPs' Subhrangshu Roy, son of Mukul Roy by 13,347 votes this year. In 2016, Subhrangshu was in Trinamool and won by a margin of 47,954. In 2019, Arjun had a lead of 7,896 votes from this Assembly segment.
Trinamool Congress' Partha Bhowmik won from Naihati by defeating Phalguni Patra of BJP by a margin of 18,855 votes. In 2016, Bhowmick won by 28,628. During Lok Sabha, Arjun had a marginal lead of 1,226 votes in this segment. In Jagatdal, Somenath Shyam Ichini of Trinamool defeated Arindam Bhattacharya of BJP by 18,364 votes in this election. In 2016, Parash Dutta won the seat for Trinamool Congress with a margin of 27,045. In this segment also, Arjun Singh had a lead of 8,364 during Lok Sabha elections.
In Noapara assembly, Manju Basu of Trinamool defeated Sunil Singh of BJP by 26,710 votes whereas in 2016 Congress's Madhusudan Ghose won from this seat by 1,095 votes. During Lok Sabha, Trivedi was ahead of Singh by 526 votes from this seat. Film director Raj Chakraborty won the Barrackpore seat this time by defeating Chandramani Shukla of BJP by 9,222 votes. In 2016, Silbhadra Datta won the seat by 7,319 votes. Singh had a marginal lead of 3,519 votes from Barrackpore during the parliamentary elections.
Trinamool Congress secured 28 seats out of total 33 in North 24-Parganas. It lost four Assembly seats — Bongaon Uttar, Bongaon Dakshin, Gaighata, Bagdah which fall under Bongaon Parliamentary constituency. The ruling party has, however, managed to gain ground and increased its vote share in these Matua-dominated seats compared to the number of votes received by the ruling party in these segments during the last Lok Sabha.
