The BJP's Basirhat organisational district leadership has urged the party's state unit to press the Election Commission of India to expedite the long-pending by-election to the Basirhat Lok Sabha seat.

Confident that Bengal's political climate has undergone a dramatic transformation after the BJP's win in the Assembly elections, ending the Trinamool Congress rule of 15 years, local leaders believe that the Basirhat constituency is poised to elect a BJP MP for the first time.

The demand for a bypoll was also conveyed directly to state BJP chief Samik Bhattacharya when he went to Basirhat on June 25 to meet an ailing party veteran.

BJP leaders believe that the political mood has shifted even among minorities of Basirhat, where Muslims account for nearly 54 per cent of voters.

Trinamool won five of the seven Assembly segments under the Basirhat Lok Sabha constituency in the recent state polls — Baduria, Minakhan, Haroa, Basirhat Uttar and Basirhat Dakshin — largely due to its minority vote base. The BJP won the Sandeshkhali and Hingalganj. However, BJP leaders argue that the electoral maths has changed after the change of guard.

Political circles are also abuzz with speculation that former chief minister Mamata Banerjee might contest the Basirhat bypoll as some of her supporters view it as a relatively safe constituency.

However, there are also indications that she remains uncertain about contesting from Basirhat following the Assembly poll results and the post-SIR electoral scenario.

The BJP, however, claims it is fully prepared. "This is the right time for the by-election in Basirhat. It hardly matters if Mamata Banerjee contests. The political picture has completely changed now...," Basirhat organisational district BJP president Sukalyan Baidya said.

"We have clearly informed the state leadership that we are fully prepared for the election and requested them to take up the matter with the Election Commission so that the by-election is announced without further delay. People are with us, our workers are fully motivated and we are confident of winning the Basirhat seat," he added.

The Basirhat Lok Sabha seat fell vacant following the death of Trinamool Congress MP Haji Nurul Islam on September 25, 2024. In the 2024 Lok Sabha election, Haji Nurul Islam had defeated BJP candidate Rekha Patra by a margin of 3,33,547 votes, securing 52.76 per cent of the votes, while the BJP managed only 30.87 per cent despite the politically explosive Sandeshkhali episode.

The BJP has been contesting the Basirhat Lok Sabha seat since 2009 but has never won it. Current state BJP chief Samik Bhattacharya, who contested from Basirhat in 2014, finished third with 18.36 per cent votes.

The district BJP leadership believes the parliamentary bypoll will produce an entirely different verdict.

"After the 2021 Assembly polls, many people, including members of the Muslim community who had voted for the BJP, faced post-poll atrocities. That fear prevented minorities who had developed a mental proximity towards the BJP from openly supporting us in subsequent elections," Baidya told The Telegraph. "Now that the BJP has formed the government, that fear has disappeared," he claimed, confident of a big chunk of the Muslim vote. "Our party's state chief (Samik) asked us about the BJP's prospects in Basirhat. We told him we are in a position to win."