KOLKATA: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) suspected foul play after it lost all the three seats in the bypolls held in West Bengal.
BJP and EVMs
National Secretary and Bengal BJP leader Rahul Sinha said that the state machinery openly helped the ruling Trinamool Congress and that they will report this to the Election Commission.
“Though the Election Commission monitors all the elections, the execution of bypolls is being done by the state. TMC can do anything to win the elections,” Sinha told IANS. He even raised doubts on the electronic voting machines.“Anything can be done with the EVMs. You can’t deny foul play of the ruling party in the counting.”
Citing the reasons behind his suspicion, Sinha said, “During Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won the Kaliaganj and Kharagpur Sadar Assembly constituencies with huge margins whereas in Kaliaganj and Karimpur the party got more votes as compared to the 2016 Assembly elections. Still we lost in all the three seats? TMC has won the Kharagpur Sadar seat for the first time. Each of these things raise doubts. Everywhere, from media to the public, it was being said that the BJP will win the bypolls.”
TMC sweeps by-polls
From Kaliaganj seat, TMC candidate Tapan Deb Sinha won against the BJP’s Kamal Chandra Sarkar with a 2,414-vote margin, whereas from Karimpur TMC candidate Bimlendu Sinha Roy humbled his nearest rival, state BJP Vice President Jay Prakash Majumder by over 24,000 votes.
TMC’s Pradip Sarkar wrested Kharagpur Sadar seat from the BJP as he defeated Premchandra Jha of the saffron party by a comfortable margin of 20,788 votes.
NRC, CAB fear factor divided BJP’s fate
The flawed National Register of Citizens and Citizenship Amendment Bill are the main reasons behind the BJP’s defeats in the by-elections in three Assembly segments.
Not only the fear of NRC helped the Muslim and other minority to vote in TMC’s favour, but those Hindus who feared NRC implementation also voted for the TMC, feels a political commentator Biswanath Chakraborty.