History repeated itself with weird regularity as ruling TrinamoolCongress continued to sweep Bengal by-elections by bigger margins leaving the BJP the second party behind by miles, the left and theCongress by “light years.”
Even as the combined Opposition handed out hackneyed losers’ apology alleging rampant capturing of booths the Trinamool showed why Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee still commanded popular patronage by winning the Uluberia parliamentary constituency by an astronomical margin of4.5 lakh votes and Noapara Assembly seat by a whopping 64,000 votes.
In what the sephologists saw a dress rehearsal for the next year’s lokSabha elections — as also the coming panchayat polls — the vote line tended to see a sharp polarization along communal lines where theTrinamool reaped the benefit of its alleged policy of minorityappeasement allowing the BJP to come up as its natural challengerbacked by fast consolidating Hindu votes and wresting the second placefrom the once mighty left Front. The Congress ended up as amicroscopic party.
At Uluberia Sajda Ahmed the wife of late TMC leader and former UnionMinister Sultan Ahmed trounced her nearest BJP rival. The saffron outfit here flourished mainly on the migrating left and Congressvotes. The two parties jointly shed more than 1.5 lakh votes to theBJP which got about 2.5 lakh votes. The Congress forfeited itsdeposit.
At Noapara TMC’s Sunil Singh got 1.01lakh votes while his nearestrival of BJP Sandip Banerjee secured 38,711 votes leaving behindCPI(M)’s Gargi Chatterjee who got 35,500 votes. The Congress polledlittle more than 11,000 votes.
The Trinamool had won the Sabang Assembly by-elections late last year by a huge margin. The BJP had finished a close third behind the CPI(M)there.
Earlier, the BJP had wrested second position from the left atCoochbehar parliamentary constituency and Kanthi Assembly seat. Theparty was also in a good shape in Birbhum where it was all set toclimb to the second place by wresting the left votes, insiders said.