The Bharatiya Janata Party won 18 Lok Sabha seats from West Bengal in 2019. This time its tally has gone down to 12, when many pollsters predicted close to 30 seats for the party. The BJP performed poorly in places like Cooch Behar, Bankura, Jhargram, etc. State unit chief Sukanta Majumdar has said that the party will analyse the reasons behind the results and stage a comeback in the 2026 assembly polls. Reports will be sought from all districts to assess what happened.
So why did the BJP’s seat count go down in West Bengal?
Discontent against ministers
Party insiders say that after the 2019 results, the BJP made its Bengal MPs Nisith Pramanik, Subhas Sarkar, John Barla, Shantanu Thakur, and Debasree Chaudhuri ministers but none of them did much for the state.
According to observers, when Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee was the railway minister at the Centre, she had a special focus on her state.
Infighting
After the 2021 assembly polls loss, Dilip Ghosh was removed from the post of BJP state unit president and replaced by Sukanta Majumdar. Insiders say that Bengal BJP has three lobbies, led by Dilip Ghosh, Sukanta Majumdar, and Suvendu Adhikari. Among these, they say, the Suvendu lobby is the strongest. A section of BJP workers is said to be disgruntled with more importance being given to leaders who have switched over from the TMC in recent years.
After the Lok Sabha poll results, Dilip Ghosh said, “We did well till 2021 but then we could not move forward for the last three years. All workers have not worked. We will have to discuss it. There was a conspiracy also.”
Some workers said that changing of Dilip Ghosh’s seat from Medinipur to Bardhaman-Durgapur this time also led to his poll defeat. Saumitra Khan who managed to retain his Bishnupur seat by a slim margin of just over 5,000 votes claimed that some BJP leaders were in contact with the TMC.
Dependency on central leadership
There was a feeling, say insiders, that everything would be done by the central leadership and some local leaders made no effort to develop booth workers. One leader told News18, “We know we have voters, but the effort which the TMC puts in to take its voters to the booth, we still lack there.”
The party still lacks a leader who is originally from the BJP, hails from West Bengal, and can challenge Mamata’s image, say insiders, adding that more work on booth workers was required.
Losses in Jangalmahal and Cooch Behar
The BJP suffered losses in areas like Jhargram, Bankura, Cooch Behar, Medinipur, and Asansol. It lost in Jangalmahal as its Kurmi vote bank shifted to the TMC, say observers. Leaders who promised Scheduled Tribe status to the Kurmis failed to deliver. Outgoing Jhargram BJP MP Kunar Hembram joined the TMC a couple of weeks ago.
In Cooch Behar, the Rajbongshi vote, which is a big factor, got divided. BJP-backed Rajya Sabha member Ananta Maharaj has influence in the Rajbongshi community, but there are allegations that he was working with the TMC.
In Asansol, SS Ahluwalia’s candidature was declared late and the fact that he was largely absent from his previous constituency, Bardhaman-Durgapur, worked against him, say sources.
Corruption card, Sandeshkhali, polarisation futile?
BJP local leaders say they banked on TMC’s alleged corruption to play a big part in the polls but that did not happen.
BJP’s attempts to make the alleged sexual assault of women in Sandeshkhali an election issue failed. Also, unverified videos began surfacing last month of a BJP leader purportedly admitting that no rapes or sexual harassment had taken place and women were convinced to file such complaints at the directions of senior party leaders. The TMC comfortably won the Basirhat seat where Sandeshkhali is located.
Many say that efforts towards polarisation may have backfired as Muslim votes consolidated for the TMC while Hindu votes did not for the BJP.
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