Bengal assembly election results: TMC rebels get BJP tickets, lose to ex-party

KOLKATA: Almost all Trinamool defectors to BJP lost the race except Mihir Goswami from Natabari in Cooch Behar, Tanmoy Ghosh from Bishnupur and Partha Sarathi Chatterjee from Ranaghat North West.
But the most high-profile defector, Suvendu Adhikari, defeated Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram.
Former state irrigation minister Rajib Banerjee, whose join of BJP was considered one of the most high- profile defections after Adhikari, lost from Howrah’s Domjur to Trinamool’s Kalyan Ghosh by 42,512 votes.
The scene was similar at Bally and Shibpur, where former Trinamool leader Vaishali Dalmiya and former Howrah mayor Rathin Chakraborty were defeated.
Former Bidhannagar mayor Sabyasachi Dutta, who had changed over to the BJP in 2019, when he was the sitting MLA of Rajarhat-Newtown, was also defeated by 7,000 votes at the Bidhannagar seat by fire minister Sujit Bose.
The people of Singur, a place which had paved the way for Mamata Banerjee’s journey to the CM’s post, stayed with her and defeated Rabindranath Bhattacharya, one of the main architects of the farmers’ movement who switched to BJP two days after Trinamool replaced the four-time MLA with Becharam Manna as a candidate.
“I accept my defeat. People perhaps could not take my defection well. I will continue my tirade against corruption,” he said.
Prabir Ghoshal, who rebelled against TMC and contested on a BJP ticket, lost the Uttarpara seat to newcomer Kanchan Mullick. At Champdali, TMC’s former trade union leader Dilip Singh lost, too.
The story was reverse for Tanmoy Ghosh, who joined BJP before the elections and won the Bishnupur seat by defeating Trinamool’s Archita Bid. Trinamool’s Partha Sarathi Chatterjee, who changed over to BJP, defeated his former “guru” Shankar Singh in the Ranaghat North West seat.
But former Malda zilla parishad sabhadhipati Gour Mondal lost the Manikchowk seat, indicating Trinamool was the top choice in Malda. Three Congress MLAs, Sabina Yasmin, Samar Mukherjee and Nihar Ghosh, who joined Trinamool, had a resounding win.
Goutam Roy, who had contested the Kandi (Murshidabad) by-poll in 2019 on a Trinamool ticket and lost, defected to BJP before polls but lost to Trinamool’s Apurbo Sarkar, who had joined from the Congress
In east and west Burdwan, all three outgoing Trinamool MLAs who had switched to BJP—Jitendra Kumar Tiwari from Pandabeshwar, Saikat Panja from Monteshwar who lost to heavyweight Siddiqullah Chowdhury and Biswajit Kundu from East Burdwan—also lost.
The story was repeated in Bijpur, Noapara and Khardah. BJP’s Mukul Roy’s son Subhrangshu Roy joined the BJP in 2019.
He lost to Trinamool’s Subodh Adhikari in Bijpur. Sunil Singh, TMC’s sitting MLA from Noapara, was defeated by TMC’s Manju Basu.
In December 2020, Barrackpore TMC MLA Silbhadhra Dutta switched to BJP but was defeated by Kajol Sinha, a posthumous winner.