TMC bypolls win: Opposition finds solace in loss

“In Bongaon, nearly 80 per cent people cast their votes. When our party cadres and other officials visited several booths, they hardly saw any queue. At 12 pm, many of the booths were deserted. So where did these voters come from? I can tell you there was vote loot by the TMC. But still we did quite well. We came second in Krishnaganj and our vote share increased in Bongaon. I am sure we will become the No 1 party in 2016,” BJP state president Rahul Sinha told The Indian Express.

Party’s national secretary Siddarth Nath Singh put the reason for defeat as “the spilt in anti-TMC votes between CPM and BJP”. “If the results are analysed, it will be clear that BJP’s vote share has moved up significantly since 2011 and 2014 assembly and Lok Sabha polls. The anti-TMC vote share is higher than pro-TMC vote share. There has been a spilt in anti-TMC vote between BJP and CPM. Larger share is still with BJP,” Singh said in a press statement. “Secondly, vote for CPI-M is a vote for TMC. Lastly, BJP has covered a lot of ground from 2011 and 2014 elections in Bengal but still needs to keep their head down and work harder for their final battle in 2016,” Singh said.

“We may have lost the polls but we have been able to increase our vote share since last few polls. We will try to improve our performance on it,” state BJP president Rahul Sinha said.

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Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress swept crucial bypolls reasserting its political supremacy in the state where BJP is trying to make inroads.

Echoed Pradip Bhattacharya, former West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee president and Rajya Sabha member: “It is true we could not do well but thing is the Trinamool Congress resorted to massive rigging. However we are not at all disheartened. We will sit and make an introspection on how to improve on our vote share,’’ Bhattacharya told Indian Express.

The CPM, too, says the results were not at all disheartening for the Marxists. “The share of Marxist votes has increased. We will keep on fighting the communal BJP and the autocratic TMC,’’ Anisur Rehman, CPM state committee member, said.