BJP Candidate Blames NRC For West Bengal Bypoll Defeat

After facing stiff competition from the Bharatiya Janata Party in the General Election 2019, the Mamata Banerjee led Trinamool Congress has won all the three Assembly seats in the recently held bypolls in West Bengal.

The bypolls were held for Kaliaganj, Kharagpur, and Karimpur seats. The party has won the Kaliaganj and Kharagpur seat for the first time and emerged victorious in Karimpur with a margin of 24,119 votes. The loss of Kharagpur Sadar seat is a big blow to the saffron party as it was represented by BJP state president Dilip Ghosh’s until this year.

After the results were out on November 28, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee thanked people for the victory and said the mandate is against BJP’s “arrogance” and “desperation to come to power”. She also said, “In the name of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the BJP has created panic among the people.”

Responding to TMC’s victory, Kamal Chandra Sarkar, BJP candidate from Kaliaganj blamed the party’s NRC implementation as the reason for his defeat, reported News 18.

Commenting on his defeat, Sarkar said, “One thing is clear; the minorities voted for TMC. I admit that that National Register of Citizens (NRC) is the reason behind my defeat. There was fear among the people regarding NRC.”

He further stated that the party failed to make people in Bengal understand that NRC implementation in Assam was different and it is the Centre and not the BJP party which implemented NRC. “People thought BJP was implementing NRC and this went against us,” he concluded.

Rahul Sinha, National Secretary and Bengal BJP leader taking a dig at the TMC said that the state machinery helped TMC to win the three seats.

“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 said.

Sinha backing his claims said that BJP in 2019 General Election won the Kaliaganj and Kharagpur Assembly constituency with massive margins and the party received more votes in Kaliaganj and Karimpur in comparison to 2016 Assembly elections. He questioned how can the ruling party win all three seats.

Also Read: West Bengal Elections: A Saga Of Violent Clashes, Notoriety And Political Murders