The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which put a major challenge to the ruling All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal, has made deep inroads in the state which appeared to be impregnable with Mamata Banerjee being at the helm of affairs.
On Thursday, as the results and trends started pouring in for the 42 constituencies of the state, the TMC appeared to have been rattled by the BJP, riding high on the Modi wave 2019, also referred to as Modi tsunami.
In 2014, when the Modi wave I was at its peak, the TMC won 34 of the 42 seats while the BJP could manage only two seats.
Cut to 2019, following a fierce political battle, accompanied by spiteful rhetoric, and violent clashes that made headlines across the country, the BJP is having the last laugh as a few hours remain for the final results to be declared.
By 3 pm, the BJP had found favour with 17 more constituencies, as it was leading on 19 seats and the TMC losing ground on 12, as it led on 22 seats.
Here, let’s break up the trends and lead by constituency:
From Alipurduars, John Barla of the BJP is leading over TMC’s Dasrath Tirkey by over one lakh votes.
From Arambagh, Tapan Kumar Ray of the BJP is leading over Aparupa Poddar (Afrin Ali) of the TMC by over 4000 votes.
From Asansol, Babul Supriyo of the BJP is ahead of Moon Moon Sen of TMC by over one lakh votes.
From Baharampur, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury of the Indian National Congress (INC) is ahead of Apurba Sarkar (David) of the TMC by over 75000 votes.
From Balurghat, Sukanta Majumdar of the BJP is ahead of TMC’s Arpita Ghosh by over 11,000 votes.
From Bangaon, Shantanu Thakur of the BJP is ahead of Mamata Thakur of the TMC by over 75, 000 votes.
At Bankura, Subhas Sarkar of the BJP is ahead of TMC’s Subrata Mukherjee by over one lakh twenty thousand votes.
At Barasat, Kakoli Ghoshdastidar of the TMC is ahead of Mrinal Kanti Debnath of BJP by over one lakh votes.
From Bardhaman Purba, Sunil Kumar Mondal of the TMC is ahead of Paresh Chandra Das of the BJP by over 85, 000 votes.
At Barrackpore, Dinesh Trivedi of the TMC is ahead of BJP’s Arjun Singh by a slender 600 votes.
At Basirhat, Nusrat Jahan Ruhi of the TMC is ahead of BJP’s Sayantan Basu by over two lakh votes.
At Birbhum, Satabdi Roy of TMC is ahead of BJP’s Dudh Kumar Mondal by over 27, 000 votes.
At Bishnupur, Khan Saumitra of the BJP is ahead of TMC’s Shyamal Santra by over 70, 000 votes.
From Bolpur, Asit Kumar Mal of the TMC is ahead of Das Ramprasad of the BJP by over 92, 000 votes.
From Burdwan – Durgapur, SS Ahluwalia of the BJP is ahead of Dr Mamtaz Sanghamita of the TMC by over 2000 votes.
From Cooch behar, Nisith Pramanik of the BJP is ahead of TMC’s Adhikary Paresh Chandra by over 30, 000 votes.
At Darjeeling, Raju Bista of the BJP is ahead of Amar Singh Rai of the TMC by over 25, 000 votes.
From Diamond Harbour, Abhishek Banerjee of the TMC is ahead of Nilanjan Roy of the BJP by over 2, 95, 000 votes.
From Dum Dum, Sougata Ray of the TMC is ahead of BJP’s Samik Bhattacharya by over 49, 000 votes.
From Ghatal, TMC’s Adhikari Deepak (Dev) is ahead of BJP’s Bharati Ghosh by a margin of over one lakh votes.