BJP gains in Rarh Bengal, retains North, fails in tribal, farmer’s belts & coastal areas

A look at the 77 seats that BJP won in Bengal on Sunday reveals that the party had made gains in Rarh Bengal, retained the gains it made in North Bengal in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, but failed to make any mark in the farmer’s belt of East Bardhaman, coastal areas of Howrah and South 24 Parganas hit hard by Amphan, and among the STs of South Bengal.

It won only nine seats in the undivided Medinipur region where party president Dilip Ghosh and Suvendu Adhikari come from. The TMC won 13 of the 15 seats in Paschim Medinipur where Ghosh contested from, and nine of the 16 in Purba Medinipur, considered Adhikari’s area of influence.

BJP also lost from Gopiballavpur constituency in Paschim Midnapore from where the BJP state president hails. Khagendranath Mahato of TMC won by 23,768 votes here.


Tapashi Mondal, a sitting CPM MLA from Haldia, handpicked by Suvendu and who joined BJP, won.

Data from the EC website shows that apart from the last three phases, phase one was where the BJP faced significant losses, particularly in Jhargram where it lost all four seats to the TMC. The TMC also managed to get seven seats in Purulia and Bankura that have BJP MPs, and 13 out of 15 seats in Paschim Medinipur, with its significant ST communities.

Known for its ST population, particularly santhals and Kurmi-Mahatos who are classified under OBC but have been demanding ST status, Jhargram shares a border with Jharkhand and CM Hemant Soren had campaigned in this region for Mamata Banerjee. The TMC blamed the Centre for not giving the Kurmis ST status and fielded Birbaha Hansda, a santhali superstar from a general seat apart from letting former Maoist leader Chhatradhar Mahato campaign in the region, which, according to psephologist Shashi Shankar Singh, worked in the party’s favour.

“Both in Jhargram and Paschim Medinipur, the TMC’s Duare Sarkar programmes helped the party. In Paschim Medinipur, defectors got tickets that angered the cadres,” he said.

In Amphan-affected constituencies, though people had grievances against TMC’s corruption related to relief and the BJP tried to bank on it, TMC won in Kakdwip, Goasaba, Canning East and West in South 24 Paraganas district, Hingalganj and Deganga in North 24 Parganas.

A month-long campaign by the BJP in January and February on empowering booth managers called ‘Mera Booth sabse Majboot’, ‘Ek muttho chaal’ and ‘Lokkho sonar Bangla’ where the party made intellectuals talk about the BJP’s vision for Bengal didn’t impact voters.

Among the BJP leaders who had maximum impact on voters were Santanu Thakur, the Bongaon MP and the BJP’s Matua face, and Nisith Pramanik, the party’s Rajbhanshi face who won Dinhata seat from Cooch Behar, apart from Suvendu Adhikari who won Nandigram defeating Mamata Banerjee.

Promise of implementation of CAA and PM’s Orankandi visit in Bangladesh seem to have had an impact on the Matuas. Though TMC was leading in the initial rounds in the Matua dominant areas of Bongaon North and South, BJP won both the seats. Matua Mahansangh leader, Santanu Thakur’s brother and the BJP candidate from Gaighata Subrata Thakur also won.

Pramanik is popular among the Rajbhanshis, and with members of the Greater Cooch Behar Association that supported the party with its social and cultural networks in North Bengal. North Bengal voted differently from the South, as former TMC MLA Mihir Goswami, unlike other defectors who failed to make a dent, managed to win against TMC minister Rabindranath Ghosh. BJP also won the urban seat of Siliguri.

The BJP swept Cooch Behar winning seven out of nine seats. In Jalpaiguri, BJP won 4 seats and TMC three out of seven seats. BJP won seats in Cooch Behar, Cooch Behar North, Gangarampur, Dhupguri and Falakata constituencies with substantial margins.

While Alipurduar and Darjeeling are the only districts the TMC failed to win a single seat –– all ten seats voted for the BJP –– the BJP did not win seats in Howrah, Kolkata, South 24 Parganas, Purba Bardhaman and Jhargram.

The TMC swept Purba Bardhaman, Kolkata and Howrah winning 43 seats, and 40 seats in Birbhum and South 24 Parganas losing just one seat each. A TMC leader said although the BJP was trying to intensify its outreach among farmers in Purba Bardhaman, the TMC relied on the networks of rice mill owners and mahajans to rein in any disappointment they had towards the party. This is the only district where a TMC MP, Sunil Mondal defected to the BJP.

In Hooghly, BJP suffered a major setback with TMC bagging 14 out of 18 seats, despite having a Lok Sabha MP Locket Chatterjee. She was defeated from Chunchura. Another BJP heavyweight Swapan DasGupta lost from Tarakeswar with a small margin.

Adhikari managed to get BJP candidates win Tamluk, Khejuri, Kanthi Uttar and Kanthi dakshin, Haldia in his district but did not make any significant impact in 115 other places where he held public rallies, including in Howrah and Kolkata.

The BJP's major disappointment came in Barrackbore region that has seven constituencies under MP Arjun Singh, a local strongman. Only one seat in Bhatpara, where Singh’s son Pavan Singh was fielded, came to the BJP. The BJP was also hoping for more gains in Paschim Bardhaman but managed only three out of nine seats.

Shashi Singh said in places such as Howrah, North 24 Parganas and Kolkata there was a clear divide between Bengali and Hindi speakers. “This was most evident in Barrackpore. Many candidates who lost here are Hindi bhashis, because the Bengalis have united for TMC and the Bihari identity of Arjun Singh became very evident.”