It has been a mixed bag for nearly a dozen members of Parliament who are trying their luck in the Assembly elections in four States and the Union Territory of Puducherry.
It has been more of a misfortune for BJP MPs than their colleagues from other parties.
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In West Bengal, along with Union Minister Babul Supriyo, who is contesting from Tollygunj, the BJP fielded two more Lok Sabha MPs — Locket Chatterjee from Chunchura and Nisith Pramanik from Dinhata. All three MPs are losing by a margin of over 5,000 votes each.
Mr. Supriyo, meanwhile, is trailing by more than 16,000 votes. Nominated MP of Rajya Sabha Swapan Dasgupta, who decided to contest on a BJP ticket from the Tarkeshwar Assembly constituency, was forced to resign after rival Trinamool Congress threatened to take legal recourse. He is now trailing behind the TMC candidate by nearly 6,000 votes.
In Kerala, former Union Minister and Rajya Sabha MP K.J. Alphonse is third in tally, behind the Congress and Kerala Congress (Mani) in Kanjirapally.
So far, the only BJP MP who is ahead is Rajya Sabha member Suresh Gopi, by a narrow margin of nearly 2,000 votes in Thrissur. He was extremely reluctant to contest the Assembly election and decided to do so only after orders from the top.
Congress MP K. Muraleedharan, who bravely took the bait and contested the Nemom Assembly constituency, seems to be paying for the political miscalculation. He is currently trailing behind the BJP’s Kummanam Rajasekhran and the CPI(M)’s Sivankutty.
In Assam too, the bad run for BJP MPs continues. Rajya Sabha MP Biswajit Daimary, who just months before the Assembly election quit the Bodoland Front Party to join the BJP, is now trailing from his seat Panery, behind the BPF by nearly 500 votes.
Assam Pradesh Congress Committee president Ripun Bora is trailing behind the BJP candidate from his seat of Gohpur. There was a widespread call ahead of election from the Congress cadre in the State asking to replace him, but it went unheeded.
In Tamil Nadu, two Rajya Sabha MPs from AIADMK R. Vaithilingam and K.P. Munusamy are leading their respective seats of Orathanadu and Veppanahalli.