Kolkata: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is all set to create history in West Bengal as the saffron brigade is leading in 19 Lok Sabha seats leaving Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee is a state of shock.
Though, we have to wait for a few more hours to get the final results, people have undeniably voted in large numbers for the BJP.
This is for the first time since the first Lok Sabha held in 1952 that BJP has emerged as a big political force in Bengal.
In 1952, Dr Shyama Prasad Mookerjee was elected to the first Lok Sabha on behalf of the Bharatiya Jana Sangha.
In 1998 and 1999 (12th and 13th Lok Sabha), BJP candidate Tapan Sikdar was elected from the Dum Dum Lok Sabha constituency.
Then, after a gap of 20 years, BJP’s Babul Supriyo and SS Ahluwalia won from Asansol and Darjeeling seats, respectively, in 2014.
This time, the BJP has performed well in Jangalmahal, south Bengal and some parts of north Bengal.
Once a Maoist stronghold, Jangalmahal’s substantial vote bank of the Left Front has pushed the saffron brigade ahead of the ruling Trinamul Congress.
When the BJP won Lalgarh, Jamboni, Belpahari, Nayagram, Sankrail, Gopiballavpur gram panchayats in Jhargram, it became clear that the BJP is going to give a good show in the region.
Similarly, in south Bengal and some parts of north, especially the border areas, the saffron camp secured a sizeable portion of tribal and Hindu votes.
In 2014, Jhargram was won by TMC's Uma Soren, who had wrested the seat from Pulin Bihari Baske of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), ending the Left’s 42-year domination.
However, this time TMC fielded Beerbaha Soren against BJP’s Kunar Hembram.
“I am happy that people have elected me. But I would like to clarify that people have not voted for me, but for PM Modi’s hard work and outstanding vision to take India on the top of the global map,” Hembram said.
The sense of worry in the TMC camp was evident on May 20 when Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu left Banerjee’s 30 B Harish Chatterjee Street without speaking a word with the media. Even, the TMC chief preferred to remain mum.
The big surprise so far is the poor show by TMC’s heavyweight candidate Subrata Mukherjee from hr Bankura seat. BJP’s Subhash Sarkar is leading here by 79,376 votes (till 2 PM).
“Subratababu is a senior politician in Bengal. But these results show that people voted for development in Bengal under the leadership of Modiji. The young generation is desperate and angry over the lack of opportunities in Bengal. They want Bengal to grow so that they can work and live here with dignity,” Sarkar said.
State BJP president Dilip Ghosh is leading in Midnapore against TMC’s Manas Bhunia. “We are going to create history this time as we are expecting to win more than 20 seats,” Ghosh said.
The saffron camp has also managed to take a lead in both its existing seats of Darjeeling and Asansol.
Besides, it is leading in Hooghly, Alipurduar, Bongaon (Matua-dominated area), Bishnupur, Burdwan-Durgapur, Purulia, South Malda, Raiganj, Ranaghat, Jalpaiguri, Barrackpore, Coochbehar, Midnapore.
According to the BJP’s internal assessment, at present, it is concerned about the seats that saw election the last phase, like Dum Dum, Jadavpur and in Bashirhat.
As far as the overall scenario is concerned, except Berhampore (where Congress’ Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury is leading against TMC’s Apurba Sarkar), in rest of the 41 seats it’s a straight contest between the TMC and BJP.
So far, the ruling camp is leading in 22 seats, while BJP has leads in 19 seats. It’s a no-show for the Left Front that had ruled the state for 34 years till Mamata Banerjee came to power in 2011.
The final results are awaited as the counting process is underway.
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