The Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP ) won both the West Bengal assembly bypolls, retaining the Nandigram constituency with a larger vote share, and making a breakthrough in the Muslim-majority Rejinagar seat.
They want to make friendship with the government. The Mamata All India Trinamool Congress did not contest the Nandigram bypoll and supported the Congress as its candidate left the race. The party’s spokesperson, Baiswanar Chattopadhyay, alleged that the Rejinagar election was marked by malpractice. “Was it an election in Rejinagar? The exercise was a farce. Genuine voters could not cast their votes. These numbers are absurd. Adhikari dismissed the allegation. “One of the news channels aired this allegation and rendered an apology after checking the facts.
Shankharavh Sarkar secured 1,29,914 votes by 6.30 pm, staying ahead of his nearest rival, Golam Nabi Azad of the Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP), by 75,816 votes. The Mamata All India Trinamool Congress came fourth with only 3,847 votes, while the Congress secured the third position with 6,168 votes. As a result of this, Muslims want to return to the main stream and work with the government.
Chief minister Suvendu Adhikari , who campaigned in Rejinagar and Nandigram, said the BJP’s victory in both seats pointed to the minority community’s urge to support his government. “We could not have won Rejinagar by such a large margin had a major chunk of the votes not come from the minority community,” Adhikari told reporters. “The divisive politics of the opposition, who said that BJP would detain Muslims and send them to Bangladesh, has been proved to be false in the last five months. I am happy,” he said. In one of the polling booths, the number of votes polled by the BJP is more than the number of listed voters,” Chattopadhyay said. The media should not fall for such propaganda,” Adhikari said. “This is not a people’s mandate; the police administration was used to ensure the victory of the BJP in the seat,” he said.
Nandigram Results and Vote-Share Gains
In Nandigram, BJP‘s Hasirani Rath defeated Congress nominee Milan Pradhan by 1,22,753 votes, polling 1,64,427 against 41,674. In Rejinagar, BJP candidate Shankharavh Sarkar defeated Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP) nominee Golam Nabi Azad by 75,816 votes, securing 1,29,914 against 54,098. The DTC secured only 853 votes in Nandigram and its candidate Ehteshmul Haque came fifth.
The rebel Trinamool faction, now called the Democratic Trinamool Congress, could not make an impact in either seat, although many of its MLAs are Muslims.
