Madarihat loss sees BJP’s tally in Bengal Assembly down to 66
Kolkata(The Uttam Hindu): With the BJP candidate losing the Madarihat Assembly constituency, the total tally of the party in the West Bengal Assembly has come down to 66. The results were declared on Saturday. On the other hand, the tally of Trinamool Congress in the 294-seat Assembly has increased to 227. While the All India Secular Front (AISF) has just one representative in the Assembly, Congress and the Left Front do not have a single representative.
In the 2021 Assembly elections, BJP won from 77 constituencies. However, within a couple of months after that, the tally declined to 75. Two elected BJP legislators namely Nishith Pramanik from Dinhata constituency in Cooch Behar district and Dr Jagannath Sarkar from Santipur constituency in Nadia district, both being central ministers then, resigned as MLAs to retain their ministerial as well as Lok Sabha chairs. In the bypolls held in the same year, BJP candidates were defeated in both Dinhata and Santipur. Thereafter, six more elected BJP legislators namely Mukul Roy from Krishnanagar (North) in Nadia district, Biswajit Das from Bagda in North 24 Parganas district, Tanmoy Ghosh from Bishnupur in Bankura, Soumen Roy from Kaliaganj in North Dinajpur, Krishna Kalyani from Raiganj also in North Dinajpur and Suman Kanjilal from Alipurduar shifted to the ruling camp one after another, thus bringing down BJP’s tally in the state Assembly to 69.
In 2023, there was a by-election for the Dhupguri Assembly constituency in Jalpaiguri district following the sudden demise of the erstwhile BJP legislator Bishnu Pada Roy. BJP got defeated in that bypoll too and thus their tally in the Assembly declined to 68 then. Again, in October 2023, elected BJP legislator from Kotulpur Assembly constituency in Bankura district Harakali Pratihari shifted to Trinamool Congress thus bringing down the tally to 67. And now with the BJP candidate being defeated from Madarihat in the latest bypolls, its tally in the state Assembly has further been reduced to 66.
