The Trinamool Congress (TMC) wrested control of the Dhupguri Assembly constituency in north Bengal from the BJP on Friday, continuing its consolidation in a region that had voted overwhelmingly in favour of the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. TMC’s Nirmal Chandra Roy, a professor of history, defeated the BJP’s Tapasi Roy, whose husband was in the CRPF and died in a terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir in 2021, by 4,309 votes. In 2021, the BJP's Bishnupada Roy won the seat by 4,355 votes. His death earlier this year necessitated the bypoll. Soon after the results were declared, West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee said, “It is a historical win. North Bengal is totally with us. We won the panchayat election also. Bypolls were held in seven seats (across India) and, overall, INDIA did well across the country.” TMC’s de facto number two Abhishek Banerjee, the Diamond Harbour MP, posted on X, “Thank you #Dhupguri, for embracing politics of development over hatred and bigotry. Saluting every AITC worker for their tireless efforts in connecting with the people. We're committed to leaving no stone unturned in ensuring Dhupguri's all-round development.” BJP leader Manoj Tigga, the party’s chief whip in the Assembly, said, “We got a lead in Banarhat tea garden as per our expectation but failed to get leads in other areas. We have to introspect our organisation's faults. Generally, the ruling party always gets an advantage in bypolls. On the other hand, a major portion of young migrant voters returned to their workplaces after the panchayat polls. We lost that vote also.” The Trinamool’s win in an Assembly constituency where 60% of the people are Rajbanshis — they are categorised as Scheduled Caste — bodes well for the party ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP swept the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in north Bengal, winning seven of the eight Lok Sabha seats in the region. This was a major contribution to the BJP’s tally of 18 parliamentary seats that year. But the TMC managed to pull things back in the 2021 Assembly elections, winning 23 of the 54 Assembly seats in the eight north Bengal districts. The BJP’s tally was 30 constituencies. The ruling party further managed to consolidate its position in the urban civic elections earlier this year. In the north, it lost only the Darjeeling Municipality election. Though the TMC lost Dhupguri in 2021 — the BJP received 45.65% of the votes while the TMC came second with 43.75% — the party won most of the panchayat seats in Dhupguri in the recent panchayat elections. Explaining the reasons for the party’s win, TMC leader Sourav Chakraborty said, “The BJP failed to win much in the tea gardens, an area where it was strong … The people of Dhupguri have shown that there is no place for the BJP’s politics of falsehood. We will continue this winning tradition in the Lok Sabha elections also.” TMC leaders said the clean image of Roy, who teaches history at Dhupguri Girls' College, helped them in the tight contest. A senior TMC leader said, “Dhupguri has been trying to get subdivision status for 10 years. In the last round of the campaign, Abhishek Banerjee came here to campaign and promised that Dhupguri would be made a subdivision. That paid dividends. We initially trailed in the Banarhat tea garden area but overcame that due to our lead in the urban area of Dhupguri. The interesting part is that we not only gained Rajbanshi votes but also the tea garden votes. This will help us in the Lok Sabha elections.” Another TMC leader said, “We are getting signals that we are regaining our organisational footing among Rajbanshis. The BJP tried to stop that by giving Ananta Maharaj the Rajya Sabha ticket, but they failed. Dhupguri bypoll result proved that.” Though BJP candidate Tapasi Roy said she would continue her fight, this defeat is yet another setback for the party that has seen an exodus of MLAs and faced a series of electoral reverses in the past few years in the state.
