Strategy of fielding turncoats failed for both TMC and BJP in Bengal

Kolkata, Jun 4 (PTI) The strategy of fielding turncoats in the Lok Sabha polls by West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party failed as all of them, except one, fared poorly, according to the Election Commission data.

The TMC, in its list of 42 candidates, included four turncoats who were either elected representatives from other parties or had joined the party in recent years. The BJP, on the other hand, fielded five contestants who joined the party from TMC.

However, except one, none of the nine candidates tasted victory.

According to the latest figures from the Election Commission, four of the five turncoats of the BJP failed to secure victory.

Soumendu Adhikari, Arjun Singh, Tapas Roy, Silbhadra Dutta and Rathin Chakraborty contested the Lok Sabha elections from Kanthi, Barrackpore, Kolkata Uttar, Dumdum and Howrah, respectively.

Of these five candidates who switched from the TMC to the BJP, only Soumendra Adhikari was leading by 44,040 votes over his nearest TMC nominee.

BJP MP from Barrackpore, Arjun Singh, who returned to the saffron camp last month after defecting to the TMC two years ago, was trailing by 64,438 votes to TMC minister Partha Bhowmik.

Tapas Roy, a four-term TMC MLA, joined the BJP due to disagreements over candidate selection and was nominated from Kolkata Uttar. He was trailing by 79,193 votes.

Silbhadra Dutta, a two-term TMC MLA who switched to the BJP ahead of the 2021 assembly polls, was nominated from the Dumdum Lok Sabha seat and was trailing by 64,988 votes from his nearest rival from TMC.

From the Howrah Lok Sabha seat, Rathin Chakraborty, a former TMC leader and ex-mayor of Howrah, who joined the BJP ahead of the 2021 assembly polls, was contesting. He was trailing by 1,69,442 votes.

On the other hand, Biswajit Das, the TMC’s Bangaon seat candidate had joined the party from the BJP in 2021. He was trailing by 73,693 votes.

BJP MLA Mukut Mani Adhikari joined the TMC in March and he was made a candidate from Ranaghat seat. He was trailing by 1,85,770 votes.

Krishna Kalyani, the TMC’s Raiganj nominee, also joined the party from BJP in 2021. He also failed to win and is trailing by 68,197 votes.

In a battle of former couple in Bishnupur constituency, Sujata Mondal of the TMC is trailing by 6670 votes to her ex-husband Saumitra Khan. She joined the TMC in 2020.

According to political analyst Biswanath Chakraborty, the dependency on turncoats by both parties is due to a lack of grooming of youth leaders.

"In the last decade, politics in Bengal has largely revolved around turncoats, mainly due to the dearth of homegrown leaders. Ideology and policies have taken a back seat," he said. PTI BSM NN