Inner conflict, lack of connect behind Sagardighi bypoll defeat: TMC leader

The review panel included four cabinet ministers – Siddiqullah Chowdhury, Sabina Yasmin, Akhrujjaman and Jakir Hossain. The bypoll was conducted on February 27.

The by-election was necessitated following the death of TMC MLA Subrata Saha. Congress and CPI (M) backed candidate Bayron Biswas won the bypoll after defeating TMC’s Debashish Banerjee, a distant cousin of the chief minister, and BJP ‘s Dilip Saha.

Talking to reporters last week, Chowdhury, who holds the mass education extension and library services portfolios, had said the party chief wanted to know why minorities chose to vote for the Left-Congress alliance although the state government has rolled out so many welfare schemes.

For the ruling party, the most concerning takeaway from the by-election was the fall in its vote share from 50.95 per cent in the 2021 Assembly polls to 34.94 per cent. That the vote share plummeted in an Assembly seat with almost 63 per cent of Muslims indicates that a major chunk of the minority community’s votes went against it.

“The committee zeroed in on multiple causes for the party’s defeat in the bypoll. However, the main cause was the inner conflict between party leaders. Due to the infighting, a large chunk of supporters and leaders were sitting idle during the polling. They did not actively participate in the campaign process also,” a senior TMC leader said.

“Other causes identified included the lack of awareness about welfare schemes launched by the state government among the voters. Also, our party’s candidate was also not well-known among the voters of Sagardighi. On the other hand, Congress’ Bayron Biswas was a local leader and was well known by the voters,” he added.

“The high-handedness of police and central forces was also a major cause for the defeat,” the leader said.

On March 10, the state government ordered the transfer of 51 senior IPS officers, including Jangipur Superintendent of Police. Jangipur SP Bhola Pandey was transferred as the Commanding Officer (CO) of the 3rd Battalion. Tenth Battalion CO Rahul Goswami was appointed to be the new Jangipur SP.