TMC, BJP gear up for bypoll challenge next

West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the principal opposition party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), are gearing up for the November 25 by-elections to three assembly seats, days after the poll schedule was announced.

The Kharagpur Sadar seat in West Midnapore district fell vacant after sitting legislator Dilip Ghosh was elected to Lok Sabha in the April-May general elections. The bypoll to the Karimpur seat in Nadia district is necessitated because of TMC legislator Mohua Moitra’s election to Lok Sabha from Krishnanagar.

The bypoll to Kaliaganj in North Dinajpur became necessary following the death of sitting Congress MLA Pramatha Nath Roy. In the 2016 assembly polls, the TMC won Karimpur, the BJP Kharagpur Sadar and the Congress bagged Kaliaganj. In all, the TMC had bagged 211 out of 293 assembly seats in 2016.

In the Lok Sabha polls earlier this year, the BJP had a lead over TMC in Kharagpur Sadar (45,123 votes) and Kaliaganj (56,762 votes), and TMC was leading ahead of BJP in Karimpur (14,340 votes). BJP bagged 18 out of 42 Lok Sabha seats.

“We are confident about winning all three (seats). We were significantly ahead of others in Kharagpur and Kaliaganj in the Lok Sabha polls. We are also hopeful of wresting Karimpur from TMC,” said BJP state unit president Dilip Ghosh.

Tapas Roy, minister of state, parliamentary affairs, and TMC leader, said, “By-elections in these three seats would also prove our contention, as people will vote in Mamata Banerjee’s name.”