Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, April 16: It has happened in the past also, but the results of the by-elections for one Lok Sabha and four state Assembly seats was none too encouraging for the BJP.
The BJP has failed to win any of the seats though the only solace for the saffron party was except in Asansol Lok Sabha seat, the BJP has not been unseated in any other constituency. But at least one seat, the BJP’s allay held the seat which has now gone to the opposition.
Contesting on the Trinamool Congress ticket, the noted Bollywood star Shatrughan Sinha, despite being painted as an outsider, inflicted a crushing blow to the BJP’s Agnimitra Paul in the Asansol Lok Sabha seat in West Bengal. Sinha won by over three lakh votes in the by-election caused by the resignation of the former union minister Babul Supriyo, who quit both from the BJP and the Lok Sabha after he was dropped from the Narendra Modi cabinet during a reshuffle last year.
Supriyo, who had won the Asansol seat for the BJP in the 2019 elections, had since joined the TMC and won for the party the Ballygunj state Assembly by-election. While for the TMC it was first ever win for the party in Asansol Lok Sabha, Supriyo retained the Ballygunj seat in Kolkata city for the TMC. The Ballygunj byelection was caused by the death of the former West Bengal minister Subrata Mukherjee. Supriyo won the seat by a margin of over 20,000 votes over his nearest rival Saira Shah Halim of the CPM, while the BJP’s Keya Ghosh finished a poor third.
While the Congress won both Khairagarh state Assembly byelection in Chhattisgarh and Kolhapur North in Maharashtra, Lalu Prasad Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal won the Bochahan state Assembly seat in Bihar. The Bochahan seat hitherto was held by the BJP ally in Bihar Vikashsheel Insaan Party (VIP) of Mukesh Sahani. The party wanted to field the deceased MLA’s son Amar Paswan for the by-election but he switched over to the RJD and won the by-election for the party.
While in Chhattisgarh, the Congress wrested the Khairagarh seat from the Janata Congress, the Kolhapur North seat demonstrated the unity among the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners helping the Congress to retain the seat. The seat was won by Jayashree Jadav, the widow of the deceased MLA Chandrakan Jadav defeating her nearest BJP rival by over 19,000 votes.
Reacting on the TMC’s victory in Asansol Lok Sabha seat, Babul Supriyo said it was a “slap” on the BJP’s face which after his victory from the constituency in the last elections had insulted him by saying that even a “matchstick” contesting on the BJP symbol could win the Asansol seat. “Wish to see the faces of those jealous BJP ‘Netas’ who never acknowledged my hard work for a place I love-Asansol & mocked me by saying, “Even a Matchstick standing for @BJP4India wud win in Asansol. Love you Asansol for serving them a Slap in a platter,” tweeted Babul Supriyo.
While “Shotgun” Sinha said he was “grateful to Asansol’s people and to Mamata Banerjee for this victory,” the defeated BJP candidate on the seat Ms Paul, who had during the campaign had been complaining of TMC high-handedness, said “accept people’s verdict, can’t say there was rigging… we have to prepare for the 2024 polls taking into account this election.”
