After a long struggle, the Trinamul Congress reclaimed its single Lok Sabha constituency in Cooch Behar by surpassing the BJP’s candidate Nisith Pramanik. Meanwhile, both the BJP and Congress have successfully maintained their positions in north Bengal, with the BJP securing six seats and the Congress managing to hold onto just one.

Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia, the newly-elected Member of Parliament from Cooch Behar, began his work for the advancement of the region by offering a prayer at Madan Mohan Temple on Wednesday. In an interview with journalists, Mr Basunia stated that he would first travel to Kolkata to resign as a Member of Legislative Assembly before heading to Delhi to take his oath as an MP. Additionally, he held a meeting with party leaders in Cooch Behar district where they discussed various topics, including the community’s desire for progress.

In the election, Mr Basunia secured a total of 7,88,375 votes, while the BJP candidate Nisith Pramanik, who was Union minister of state for home affairs, managed 7,49,125 votes. The third candidate from the Forward Bloc, Nitish Roy, only managed to secure 30,267 votes.

Raju Bista, who won a second term as MP from Darjeeling, held a meeting with his party leaders in Siliguri on Wednesday. He expressed gratitude towards the people of his constituency, particularly those in Siliguri, for their support. Bista also acknowledged the significance of this town in north Bengal, from where he achieved a substantial victory margin.

“My desire is to work for the betterment of the region for the next five years. I have a strategic proposal to improve the development of Siliguri town and its surrounding areas. As an MP, it is my goal to serve all individuals, regardless of their political beliefs. I trust that everyone will extend their support to me and I am committed to serving each and every one of them,” Mr Bista told reporters.

Mr Bista achieved a historic victory in the Darjeeling Lok Sabha constituency, surpassing the margins of other contenders in north Bengal. The BJP nominee, Mr Bista, received 6,79,331 votes, while his opponent Gopal Lama garnered 5,00,806 votes. The Congress candidate, Munish Tamang, only managed to secure 83,374 votes.

The Trinamul Congress leaders are disappointed with the outcome of the Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri LS seats, as their efforts were not enough to defeat the BJP. They are accusing the Congress and CPM of splitting the votes against the BJP. Siliguri mayor Goutam Deb expressed his frustration to reporters, stating that their party’s candidate was unable to secure victory due to the large number of votes bagged by the Congress candidate in the Raiganj Lok Sabha seat.

Krishna Kalyani was in second position in the Raiganj LS seat with 4,92,700 votes, while Ali Imran Ramz of the Congress managed 2,63,273 votes. Meanwhile, Kartik Chandra Paul emerged victorious with a margin of 68,197 votes, having secured a total of 5,60,897 votes.

In a similar manner, Prasun Banerjee, the candidate of Trinamul Congress in Malda (Uttar), was unable to defeat Khagen Murmu of BJP, as a result of the large number of votes bagged by Mostaque Alam from Congress. Mr Murmu obtained 5,27,023 votes, while Mr Banerjee got 4,49,315 votes and Mr Alam garnered 3,84,764 votes.

Despite the BJP’s intention to secure victory in the Maldah (Dakshin) LS seat through the support of the TMC indirectly, the residents in areas dominated by Congress showed their preference by electing Isha Khan Choudhury. Mr Choudhury won with a significant margin of 1,28,368 votes, receiving 5,72,395 votes in total. In second place was BJP candidate Sreerupa Mitra Choudhury with 4,44,027 votes, while TMC candidate S A Raihan garnered 3,01,026 votes.

Despite predictions from political experts that TMC candidate Nirmal Roy, an MLA from Dhupguri, would win the Jalpaiguri LS seat, BJP candidate Jayanta Roy was re-elected with a comfortable margin. Jayanta Roy received 7,66,568 votes while Nirmal Roy only received 6,79,875 votes. The CPM candidate Debraj Barman received a mere 74,092 votes.

The Alipurduar LS seat has been won by the BJP after defeating the TMC candidate. The Rajya Sabha member Prakash Chik Baraik, who represented the TMC, received 6,19,867 votes, while Manoj Tigga from the BJP received 6,95,314 votes with a lead of 75,447 votes. Mili Oran from the RSP only managed to get 39,709 votes.

A highly anticipated battle between the BJP and TMC took place in the Balurghat LS constituency, with BJP state leader Sukanta Majumdar ultimately receiving an official win certificate from the Election Commission.

Mr Majumdar secured victory with 5,74,996 votes, surpassing TMC’s Biplab Mitra, a state government minister, by a margin of 10,386 votes. RSP candidate Joydev Siddhanta received 54,217 votes.