The Trinamool Congress on Monday achieved yet another convincing victory in the Kaliganj Assembly bypoll, increasing its vote share even while fewer people voted on June 19 voting day.

The BJP’s hardline Hindutva thrust did not work in the bypoll seat, its vote share shrinking from 2021. Numbers of the Congress (backed by the Left) grew as well.

With Kaliganj, chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s party now has 228 MLAs in the 294-seat House. The BJP stays at 65. The ISF’s Nawsad Siddique remains the sole MLA from the Left-Congress-ISF space.

Trinamool leaders pointed out that this win ensured the party won 11 of the 11 Assembly bypolls in a year’s time, having snatched four from the BJP (Raiganj, Ranaghat Dakshin, Bagdah and Madarihat) in terms of leads secured in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls last year, with victory margins swelling substantially in all seats.

Though booth-wise breakup is yet to be available for closer inspection to determine otherwise, as of Monday evening, it seems the BJP’s recent, increasingly radical drive is yet to yield desired results. Bypoll numbers from one Assembly constituency do not mean much, but the results have reinforced doubts in the minds of those within the BJP state unit that are sceptical of the Suvendu Adhikari-led militant majoritarianism.

“This approach, fuelled by bigotry and hate-plus-fear-mongering to polarise the electorate so that it yields poll dividends in our favour does not seem to be working in this essentially pluralist, inclusive state where politics of the bovine belt variety keeps failing spectacularly,” said a saffron camp insider.

“However, without it, what do we have left?” he admitted.

Even with a 10.95 per cent lower voter turnout (over 23,000 votes) compared to 2021, Trinamool’s Alifa Ahmed managed 1,02,759 votes and a vote share of 55.15 per cent, compared to her deceased father Nasiruddin Ahamed’s 1,10,696 and 53.35 four years ago.

The BJP’s Ashish Ghosh obtained 52,710 votes and 28.29 per cent, from Abhijit Ghosh’s 64,709 and 30.91 in 2021. The Congress’s Kabil Uddin Shaikh (backed by the Left) rose to 28,348 votes and 15.21 per cent, from Abul Kashem’s 25,076 and 11.98 in the last
Assembly election.

“People of all religions, castes, races and walks of life in the area have blessed us immensely by exercising their right to vote in the by-elections to the Kaliganj Assembly constituency. I humbly express my gratitude to them,” wrote Mamata on X
in Bengali.

“The main architects of this victory are Ma-Mati-Manush (mother, earth and people). My colleagues from Kaliganj have worked tirelessly for this. I also extend my heartfelt congratulations to them. My greetings and salutations to everyone,” she added. “Remembering the late MLA Nasiruddin Ahamed, I dedicate this victory to the motherland and people of Bengal.”

Adhikari claimed his party received a vast majority of Hindu votes. “I have not seen the final results in detail yet…. The CPM-Congress got a little support in minority-dominated areas. Our aim was to consolidate the Hindu votes, which I believe we were quite successful in doing, in terms of strategy,” claimed the Nandigram MLA.

However, Ghosh secured only 52,710 votes in a seat that has over 1.32 lakh Hindu electors (around 52 per cent of the total electorate).

MLA Alifa Ahmed, a 38-year-old engineer, who quit her corporate job with an IT firm for politics, attributed her victory to the people’s love for Mamata and her politics of development.

“I do not agree, at all, that Hindus have not voted for us. We did receive significant leads from several Hindu-majority areas in my constituency,” she said in response to Adhikari’s claims.

“We never target votes from any particular community… the mandate is once again very clearly against communal divide in Bengal,” Alifa added.

The Congress’s Kabil Uddin Sheikh blamed the BJP for polarisation.

“Between Suvendu Adhikari and (BJP state unit chief) Sukanta Majumdar, the BJP had four meetings clearly urging Hindu voters to unite under them or face obliteration. The minorities ended up uniting forces and voted en masse for Trinamool. The BJP and Trinamool together made sure the electorate was divided along communal lines,” he said.