Kolkata, Jun 5 (PTI) The Trinamool Congress swept the Gangetic plains of West Bengal and recovered in the western Junglemahal region, which hold the key in the state’s politics, by bagging 18 of the 29 seats it won in the Lok Sabha polls from this area.
However, the BJP was able to maintain its dominance over north Bengal and the Matua belt in south Bengal, which also hold significance in the political landscape of the state.
The Mamata Banerjee-led party secured seven more seats as compared to the previous elections, bagging 29 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state, while the BJP won only 12 seats, down from its tally of 18 in 2019.
The Congress managed to win only one seat, while the CPI (M) failed to open its account, just like last elections.
The TMC swept the Gangetic plains, comprising the five districts of North and South 24 Parganas, Kolkata, Howrah, and Hooghly, by winning 14 of the 16 Lok Sabha seats. The BJP’s tally went down from three to two in this region.
TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee scored a hat-trick in Diamond Harbour, winning by a record margin of 7.10 lakh votes, probably the highest-ever margin in West Bengal in the last few decades.
The BJP, which hoped to make its presence felt in Basirhat constituency, under which Sandeshkhali falls, saw its candidate Rekha Patra being humbled by TMC’s Haji Nurul Islam by nearly two lakh votes.
The Trinamool Congress, which has been dominant in this region, nominated fresh candidates in six seats – three in North 24 Parganas, two in South 24 Parganas and one in Hooghly – due to anti-incumbency and non-performance of sitting MPs.
In the 2021 assembly polls as well, the TMC had swept the two 24 Parganas districts, bagging 27 of the 33 seats in North and all but one in South.
The TMC also did well in forested and tribal-inhabited western districts, collectively known as Junglemahal, which send eight MPs to Parliament. The BJP and the TMC won four seats each, with the ruling party in the state gaining one when compared to 2019.
The BJP received a setback as Union minister and sitting MP Subhas Sarkar lost the Bankura seat to TMC’s Arup Chakraborty by a margin of 32,778 votes.
The saffron party, however, was able to maintain its dominance over north Bengal, comprising hills, Terai and Dooars, where it bagged six of the eight Lok Sabha seats.
Congress candidate Isha Khan Choudhury won Maldaha Dakshin by over 1.28 lakh votes. Union minister Nisith Pramanik lost Cooch Behar to TMC’s Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia by 39,250 votes.
Voting margins also decreased for winning BJP candidates, most notably in Darjeeling, where sitting MP Raju Bista’s margin dipped from 4.13 lakh in 2019 to 1.78 lakh in 2024, while state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar won his Balurghat seat by a mere 10,386 votes, down from 33,293 in the previous elections.
In the Matua belt in southern West Bengal, the BJP retained both Bangaon and Ranaghat. Union minister Shantanu Thakur retained Bangaon, winning by a margin of 73,693 votes.
TMC’s Mahua Moitra, who was expelled from the Lok Sabha last year in the cash-for-query scam, however, won adjoining Krishnanagar by 56,705 votes. PTI PNT ACD
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