Bengal bypoll: CPM, Cong agree on a candidate for seat won by BJP last time

In Dhupguri, the CPI(M) is fielding Ishwar Chandra Roy, who will be supported by the Congress.

The seat was won in the 2021 Assembly elections by the BJP’s Bishnu Pada Roy, whose death in July necessitated the bypoll. So while the BJP will seek to hold on to the seat, the TMC will be looking to wrest it from its bitter rival.

In the 2021 Assembly polls too, the CPI(M) and Congress were in alliance.

The bye-election will be held on September 5, along with six other Assembly constituencies in five states. The counting of votes will be held on September 8.

In the 2016 Assembly elections, the Dhupguri seat had been won by the TMC’s Mithali Roy with close to 44% of the votes. However, CPI(M) candidate Mamata Roy, then also supported by the Congress, had got a creditable 34.26% of the votes.

In 2021 though, the CPI(M)-Congress alliance was nowhere in the race, with its candidate Pradeep Kumar Roy losing his security deposit in an election where the BJP (45% of the votes) and TMC (43.75%) mopped up almost all the votes.

The I.N.D.I.A alliance might be a new formulation but the Left and Congress are now old partners in Bengal. Before announcing the candidate for Dhupguri, Left Front chairman Biman Bose is learnt to have spoken to state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.

The Rajbanshi vote is an important factor in Dhupguri, and the winners in the past two elections from the seat were from the community (the BJP’s Bishnu Pada Roy in 2021, and the TMC’s Mithali Roy in 2016). The CPI(M) candidate for the bypoll is also a Rajbanshi.

The Left is hoping that Ishwar Chandra Roy’s popularity as a Bhaoiya folk music artist and retired teacher of a local madrasa will go in its favour, with the bypoll being held on ‘Teacher’s Day’. CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty said, “Ishwar Chandra is widely accepted, cutting across society. So, we are expecting very good results in the bypoll.”

The TMC can be expected to pull out all the stops to avoid a second successive bypoll defeat. The Sagardighi loss, in Muslim-dominated Murshidabad, was the first for the TMC from the seat since 2011. Congress candidate Bayron Biswas had won by 22,986 votes, riding the support of the Left Front and its ally, the Indian Secular Front.

TMC leaders said they are not worried about regaining Dhupguri. A party leader said, “We lost this seat by a very thin margin in 2021. In the recent panchayat elections, we won from here with a huge margin. So, we are confident.”

Senior BJP leader Samik Bhattacharya said, “TMC leaders should realise that the bypoll will not be conducted in the manner in which the panchayat polls were held. We saw what happened in Sagardighi. So, people will give a reply to the TMC’s unethical tactics in the panchayat election here.”