Despite big Lok Sabha poll win in Bengal, why TMC may have reasons to worry

Amid their euphoria over the Trinamool Congress (TMC)’s resounding victory in the recent Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal, there also seem to be concerns among the party leaders. This is mainly being attributed in the TMC circles to the point that in the Lok Sabha polls — in which the TMC bagged 29 seats out of 42 as against the BJP’s 12 — the party candidates trailed in the Assembly constituencies of several state ministers. The polls also saw the Opposition parties ahead in many wards of urban local bodies across the state.

Kolkata

In the area under the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), out of 144 wards, the TMC currently has 138 councillors, whereas the BJP has three, and the Left-Congress combine have three. The TMC won both of Kolkata’s Lok Sabha seats. But in both seats, its lead was lower than that in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The principal Opposition BJP was ahead in 48 KMC wards, while the Left-Congress combine got a lead in three wards. The TMC got the leads in 93 wards.

A senior TMC leader said, “Our party has fallen behind in the wards of several heavyweight KMC councillors, such as in ward no. 85, whose Mayor-in-Council Debashis Kumar is the MLA in Rashbehari Assembly segment besides being the TMC district president of South Kolkata. Our party was also trailing in ward no. 8 of Pooja Panja, the daughter of Shashi Panja, who is a state minister and the CM’s confidant.”

He said, “It’s the same story in ward no. 31 under MLA Paresh Pal’s Assembly segment Beleghata. The BJP also got leads in Mayor Parishad member Asim Kumar Basu’s ward no. 70, as well as in ward no. 72, where Mayor-in-Council Sandeep Bakshi is the councillor. Interestingly, both these wards are under Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Assembly