Tag: West Bengal Assembly elections 2021

HC dismisses Bengal govt’s plea; NHRC panel to probe post-poll violence

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Observing that the Bengal governments progress in matters related to post-poll violence did not inspire confidence, the Calcutta High Court on Monday dismissed the dispensation’s prayer for recall of an order that directed the NHRC chairperson to form a committee to examine cases of alleged human rights violations.

The state government had on Sunday moved the court seeking the recall of an order passed last week in respect of a bunch of PILs that was filed alleging displacement of people, physical assault, destruction of property and ransacking of offices owing to post-poll violence.

Dismissing the government’s plea, a five-judge bench, comprising Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and justices I P Mukerji, Harish Tandon, Soumen Sen and Subrata Talukdar, observed, “The way the state was proceeding in the matter, which required immediate action, did not inspire confidence.” It directed that whatever information the state “now wants to produce” with reference to the complaints, may be placed before the NHRC, which will be scrutinising all complaints along with the information supplied by the state and submit a report before the court. Appearing for the state, Advocate General Kishore Dutta submitted that the state was not given an opportunity to place complete facts before the court and claimed that the government had taken appropriate action on complaints.

The state had also prayed for a stay of operation of the order till the disposal of the PILs. “A chart of alleged action in complaint cases was sought to be produced in court which is not supported by any affidavit. However, the learned advocate general stated that he could vouchsafe the authenticity thereof,” the bench noted.

Opposing the government’s application, counsel for the petitioners in the PILs submitted that considering the conduct of the state ever since the court had taken cognizance of the matter, the bench was constrained to pass the order. The counsel further submitted that the order was passed after taking into consideration the number of complaints and police inaction, with many even being deprived of the chance to file a complaint.

“After hearing learned counsels for the parties, we do not find any case is made out for recalling, modification or stay of the order passed by this court on June 18, 2021,” the five-judge bench said. The bench, passing the order on June 18, had taken note of a report submitted by the member secretary of West Bengal State Legal Services Authority (WBSLSA), which said 3,243 persons had reported suffering till noon of June 10.

The member secretary of WBSLSA further mentioned that the complaints were referred to the superintendents of police or police stations concerned in several cases but no response was received. The court, as it passed the order, noted that the SLSA member secretary will be a part of the committee, to be formed by the chairperson of the NHRC. It said that a representative from the State Human Rights Commission, West Bengal, will also be associated with it.

The bench also said that the committee will scrutinise the complaints the NHRC has received or could receive, and submit a comprehensive report before it about the present situation, after “may be by visiting the affected areas”. It further asked the panel to suggest steps that have to be taken to restore confidence in people and ensure they get to live peacefully in their houses and carry on with their occupation or business.

“The persons prima facie responsible for crime and the officers who maintained calculated silence on the issue, be pointed out,” the bench had ordered, directing that the matter would be taken up for hearing again on June 30.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Mamata Banerjee moves Calcutta HC challenging Suvendu Adhikari’s win in Nandigram

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday moved the Calcutta High Court challenging BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari’s victory in Nandigram.

The case would be taken up for hearing by the court on Friday (June 18)

The Nandigram Assembly constituency had witnessed a high-voltage electoral battle between Banerjee and Adhikari. Adhikari outsmarted Mamata Banerjee by a margin of 1,956 votes to emerge the winner.

More than a political fight, the battle for Nandigram had turned into one of prestige and assumed the proportions of a personal fight to decide who owns the legacy of the Nandigram movement Banerjee or Adhikari.

Alleging tampering of EVM machines and refusal of demands for recounting by the concerned EC official, Banerjee had said following declaration of the results that the doors of the court will be knocked on the issue.

BJP MLA Adhikari is at present the leader of the opposition in the West Bengal Assembly.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

HIGHLIGHTS: Mamata takes oath in Bengal; DMK chief Stalin oath ceremony on May 7

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Govt formation HIGHLIGHTS: TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee was Wednesday sworn-in as the chief minister of West Bengal for the third consecutive term after a massive win in the state assembly elections. Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar administered her the oath of office and secrecy at a low-key ceremony at Raj Bhawan held amid the raging COVID pandemic.

Banerjee took the oath in the Bengali language. Apart from senior TMC leaders like Partha Chatterjee and Subrata Mukherjee, poll strategist Prashant Kishor, who played a key role in TMC’s victory, and Banerjee MP nephew Abhishek Banerjee were present.

Banerjee has said her first priority after resuming office will be to tackle the COVID-19 situation.

Here are the highlights from Mamata Banerjee’s Oath Ceremony and government formation in the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry as well:

• Stalin calls on TN Guv, stakes claim to form govt: DMK president M K Stalin on Wednesday called on Governor Banwarilal Purohit at the Raj Bhavan here and staked claim to form the government, a day after he was unanimously elected leader of the legislature party. Stalin, along with party veteran and general secretary Duraimurugan called on Purohit and gave him a letter on his
  election as leader of the DMK legislature party and staked claim to form the government, a party release said. DMK treasurer T R Baalu, principal secretary K N Nehru and organisation secretary R S Bharathi accompanied Stalin.

Tamil Nadu: DMK President MK Stalin meets Governor Banwarilal Purohit to stake claim to form government pic.twitter.com/f5UCknbdKx

— ANI (@ANI) May 5, 2021

• The DMK chief is set to assume office as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister on May 7 and he would be sworn in as CM in a simple function to be held at the Raj Bhavan. Stalin was elected leader of the DMK legislature party here on Tuesday.
• The DMK won 133 seats in the Assembly polls and along with allies including Congress garnered a total of 159 constituencies in the 234-member  assembly. The AIADMK won 66 segments and its partners BJP and PMK
  four and five seats respectively.
• Bengal’s administrative machinery was under Election Commission, now we will tackle disturbances: Mamata on political violence.
• Our first priority is to end horrendous post-poll violence in the state: Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar at Mamata’s oath-taking ceremony.
• West Bengal Governor: “I congratulate Mamata Ji on her third term. Our priority is that we must bring an end to this senseless violence that has affected society at large. I have every hope that the CM on an urgent basis will take all steps to restore rule of law.”
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi: “Congratulations to Mamata Didi on taking oath as West Bengal’s Chief Minister,” he tweeted.

“Congratulations to Mamata Didi on taking oath as West Bengal’s Chief Minister,” tweets Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

(File photos) pic.twitter.com/6IwbrT9sUF

— ANI (@ANI) May 5, 2021

• Mamata Banerjee takes oath as the Chief Minister of West Bengal for a third consecutive term. She was administered the oath by Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar.

Mamata Banerjee takes oath as the Chief Minister of #WestBengal for a third consecutive term. She was administered the oath by Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar. pic.twitter.com/IXy05xNZPZ

— ANI (@ANI) May 5, 2021

• The swearing-in of Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee as chief minister at Raj Bhavan on Wednesday morning will be a low-key programme given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a government official said.
• Invitations for the programme have been sent to her predecessor Buddhadeb  Bhattacharjee, leader of Opposition of the outgoing House Abdul Mannan and CPI(M) veteran leader Biman Bose, the official said on Tuesday.
• Chief ministers of other states and leaders of other political parties have not been invited for the programme keeping in mind the current COVID-19 situation in the country, he said. “It has been decided to keep the oath-taking ceremony of Mamata Banerjee a very simple one because of the COVID-19  pandemic. Banerjee will be the only leader who will be taking oath tomorrow. The programme will be a very brief one,” he said.
• Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee, poll strategist Prashant Kishor and party leader Firhad Hakim are likely to be present at the ceremony scheduled to be held at the Raj Bhavan at around 10.45 a m on May 5, TMC sources said.
• BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has also been invited for the ceremony, the official said. Soon after taking oath, Banerjee will go to the state secretariat ‘Nabanna’ where she will be given ‘guard of honour’ by Kolkata Police, sources said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Beyond Binaries: What the recent assembly poll results suggest for national politics

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

What larger message do the recently-concluded elections in four states and one union territory bring us, particularly after the dust of breaking news has settled?

The answer to this depends on how we wish to make sense of it.

There are two ways of reading election results. One, to see each result as an atomistic event, with the simple question of who won or who lost being the end of the analysis.

The other is to see an election as part of a process and see whether it captures a larger trend.

It is the second method that actually helps understand politics. As for the first, many news reports and WhatsApp messages regarding the results have done to death the atomistic analysis.

BJP: the larger picture

The most important trend that the present round of elections captures is the gradually deepening eastern expansion of the BJP, which exactly a decade back was seen as a party of north, central and western India, with the sole conquest of Karnataka in the south.

Exactly 10 years back, the BJP was virtually non-existent in Bengal and Assam, two important states of the east. In the 2011 assembly elections, the BJP secured 4-percent votes in Bengal and 11-percent votes in Assam. It won five seats in Assam in 2011 and drew a blank in Bengal.

It was just three years after this that the expansion of the BJP began and it swept north India—particularly populous Uttar Pradesh—in what is called the Modi wave in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. While north India stayed with the BJP, the impact of the wave gradually radiated towards the eastern states, which the BJP had been focusing on.

In 2016, the BJP won Assam for the first time. It has retained Assam for the second time now, securing about 43-percent votes per seat it contested. In a sign that national convergence is now fuelling politics in India, the BJP is the prime party in Assam while the AGP, which had risen in the heady days of the AASU agitation, plays second fiddle to the national party.

Many see the Bengal elections as symptomatic of strong regional sentiment, but they are off the mark. The strong insider-vs-outsider discourse in Bengal was actually a result of the emerging national convergence, which made an entrenched TMC take recourse to regionalism to resist BJP expansion. To read it as growing regionalisation of politics is as fallacious as reading the beginning of casteism in the public sphere in Mandal: the Mandal Commission just disturbed the status quo of upper caste hegemony, making caste visible, rather than infusing casteism in public discourse.

The pattern of the north Indian wave radiating to Bengal has been slower than Assam but a clear phenomenon. Scoring a blank in 2011, the BJP could win just three seats in Bengal in 2016, securing 10-percent votes. However, in 2021, the BJP has breached Bengal and made it bipolar. With the left and Congress together drawing a blank in Bengal, the BJP has secured 38-percent votes, winning 77 seats. The transfer of left and Congress votes seems to have made the TMC surge ahead in the polls, increasing its vote percentage to 47-48 despite Mamata Banerjee losing her own election in Nandigram.

This paradox suggests that a lot of last-minute vote transfer—and the stronger organisation of the TMC—ensured that Mamata Banerjee could return as Chief Minister for the third time. However, the larger picture remains the rise of the BJP, which has increased its seat tally 26-fold and its vote share four-fold, suggesting that a north Indian party has now reached Bengal as a major political force.

In sync with what I wrote in an earlier piece for this news organisation, a unique Bengal model of Hindutva is visible this time. A party that took cities and the upper castes first in the north, central and western India has entrenched itself better among subaltern caste groups in the eastern states. The final results show that about half of the seats the BJP won have come in SC/ST reserved constituencies, suggesting that while it could sway Dalits and tribals, it failed to move the greater Kolkata region, which houses not just the state’s only mega-city but is the hub of the Bhadralok, a category that is on the surface suggestive of some genteel traits but is largely upper-caste heavy as it primarily captures the cultural aspirations of Brahmins, Kayastha and Baidyas.

However, contrary to what many are claiming in the euphoria of the election results, Mamata Banerjee is unlikely to emerge as a challenger to the BJP. There are two reasons for this. One, Banerjee is a quintessential regional leader who cannot influence any state bordering Bengal on any side. Second, even if the BJP were to decline in 2024 and the coalition era returns, other regional parties are likely to choose a low-profile regional leader rather than an ambitious and high-profile Mamata Banerjee. This is what happened in 1996-97, when HD Devegowda and IK Gujral, rather than a high-profile regional leader, became Prime Minister.

The challenge to the BJP is not Mamata Banerjee at present. The real challenge is the raging pandemic, which seems to have spiraled out of control even as elections and the Haridwar Kumbh took place. The reverses the BJP has suffered in the Uttar Pradesh Panchayat polls are the real warning sign for the party, though it is too early to say whether these will result in reverses in the UP assembly elections next year.

Muslim votes

The Modi wave has also been marked by Hindu-Muslim polarisation on a large scale. In Assam, the Congress entered into a tie-up with the AIUDF to ensure that Bengali-speaking Muslims, found in large numbers in the Barak Valley and Lower Assam, did not split. However, given the deep unease among Assamese Hindus who see Bengali speakers as a threat to what they consider the cultural specificities of the state, a counter-polarisation of Hindus ended up seeing the BJP through. Ajmal is often seen by Assamese speakers as a symbol of what they consider the Bengali ‘invasion’ of the state. The sentiment is more linguistic than religious, but the Congress-AIUDF alliance helped in polarisation that helped the BJP.

In Bengal, a recent trend witnessed in Bihar was bucked. If Muslims chose the AIMIM of Asaduddin Owaisi over the RJD in five constituencies in the Muslim-heavy Seemanchal region, they stuck to the prime challenger of the BJP, the TMC, in Bengal, completely ignoring the Indian Secular Forum of Abbas Siddiqui, the cleric of the Furfura Sharif shrine. This suggests that Muslim voters are sticking to the prime ‘secular’ challenger to the BJP rather than trying out parties that are perceived as ‘Muslim-centric’.

The CPI (M)

This election brought both good and bad news for an embattled CPI (M). But, on the balance, the good news trumps the bad news. While the party drew a blank in Bengal, once its bastion where it had been in power for 34 years, it won Kerala, bucking the trend of the state alternating between the CPI (M)-led LDF and the Congress-led UDF. Perhaps Pinarayi Vijayan’s handling of the COVID crisis in the state—and his effective communication of the handling— helped the party. It is being widely reported that while many states are running short of oxygen, Kerala had taken timely steps to ramp up oxygen supplies to face the second wave.

The Congress

The woes of the Congress continued even in this round of assembly polls. It lost both Kerala and Assam, where it has been a force and drew a blank in Bengal, where its traditional votes in the Malda-Murshidabad region shifted to the TMC in a bipolar contest.

The Congress can take some solace in Tamil Nadu, as it is part of the DMK-led alliance, but the engine of the alliance is undoubtedly the DMK.

If the Congress does not get its act together to become an alternative to the BJP as a national party, the Hindutva wave may continue in India in the coming years, unless the pandemic damages the prospects of the ruling party.

Only time will tell how the pandemic—which has made health infrastructure collapse—affects the BJP in the coming months.

—Vikas Pathak has been a political journalist for a decade-and-a-half and teaches at Asian College of Journalism, Chennai. The views expressed are personal

Read his other columns here

Click to check out our other articles in the Views section

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

MHA asks What Bengal govt to send report on post-poll political violence

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

The Centre on Monday sought a report from the West Bengal government on post-poll violence targeting opposition workers in the state. Political workers, including from BJP, were allegedly targeted by opponents since the announcement of results for the 292-member West Bengal assembly where the ruling Trinamool Congress emerged victorious.

“MHA has asked West Bengal Government for a report on the post-election violence targeting opposition political workers in the state,” a spokesperson tweeted. The BJP has alleged that one of its party offices in Hooghly district was set on fire, and some of its leaders, including Suvendu Adhikari, were heckled by TMC activists in other parts of the state.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee urged her supporters to maintain peace and asked them not to fall prey to provocations.

She will be sworn in as the chief minister of West Bengal for the third time on May 5 (Wednesday). The newly-elected MLAs of the Trinamool Congress unanimously elected Banerjee as the legislative party leader at a meeting, its secretary-general Partha Chatterjee said.

Stay tuned with us for the latest updates. Click here

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

BJP no match to one-woman army in Bengal

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Contrary to the expectations of a nail-biting finish, Bengal ‘khela’ turned out to be a one-sided affair with Didi walking away with the winner’s crown convincingly. What makes this victory so important is that Mamata Banerjee was up against Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had put his entire political machinery behind the election. The carpet-bombing of the campaign by Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J.P. Nadda besides a host of other cabinet ministers reflected the party’s eagerness to unseat Mamata. But she proved to be a one-woman army for the Trinamool Congress party. The victory is, no doubt, a shot in the arm for Mamata Banerjee, but it will also act as a ‘sanjeevani booti’ for the moribund opposition.

The BJP employed everything in its arsenal to weaken Mamata, but she was not shaken. In fact, the BJP attempted to wear her out by engineering a spate of defections in her party. But she was not deterred. Rather, it steeled her resolve. The BJP’s decision to put up former Trinamool Congress candidates backfired as only a handful of them could secure victory.

What made the three-in-a-row victory possible for Trinamool which was battling anti-incumbency and charges of corruption?

The Trinamool was largely helped by the Congress and the Left Front, which have ruled the state for over 60 years between them and who chose to be fence-sitters this time. Recognising that they will not be able to pose any challenge to the BJP, both the Congress and the Left decided to remain silent warriors as part of a strategy and let the Trinamool slug it out. The grand design was not to allow the Muslim vote to be split. According to the 2011 Census, the Muslim population in West Bengal was 2.47 crore (27.01 percent) of the total 9.13 crore. In 10 years since, one can safely assume that the percentage of the Muslim population would be at least 30 percent, if not more. That they wield influence in close to 100 of the 294 assembly seats makes them a powerful bloc.

The Muslim vote has played an important role in Trinamool’s rise to power. In the past, both the Congress and the Left were also the major beneficiaries of the Muslim vote. However, the Muslim voter has also become smart over the years. Rather than putting all their eggs in one basket, read political party, the Muslims have been voting for the candidates instead which is why there has been a gradual increase in the number of Muslim candidates put up by all the political parties and the BJP is also no exception. The BJP fielded nine Muslim candidates this time as compared to 42 by TMC.

With both the Congress and the Left realising that a dent in the Muslim vote will serve the interests of the BJP only, the two decided to go slow sending out a clear signal to the Muslims who to vote for if the BJP had to be stopped. And as it happened, the Muslims voted en masse for the Trinamool this time ensuring its victory in about 100 seats. So, in effect, the real fight between the Trinamool and the BJP skittled down to close to 200 non-Muslim influential seats. If the BJP were to unseat the Mamata government, it needed to win 147 seats of these 200 or so seats, which was quite a Himalayan task!

Another important factor that contributed to Trinamool’s landslide victory was women who constitute about 49 percent of the electorate and who have been nurtured by the Mamata Banerjee government which runs dozens of women-centric schemes. The women voters have steadfastly been avid supporters of Didi since she breached the citadel of the Communists in the state.

The personal barbs by the BJP leadership against Mamata, particularly Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Didi O’ Didi’, did not go down well with the ‘Bhadralok’ of Bengal which they found very insulting for the ‘Daughter of Bengal’. And the result is for everybody to see. While the BJP has made substantial gains by winning 77 seats compared to the last assembly election when it had three seats, the party has, in fact, suffered reverses since it won 18 of the parliamentary seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Breaking down as assembly constituency-wise, the BJP had won 121 assembly constituencies then which has come down to 77. The Trinamool’s vote share has risen by 6 percent — from 43 percent to 49 percent — while the BJP’s has gone down to 37 percent from 40 percent.

So, where does Mamata go from here? Will she emerge as the Opposition face in 2024? With Congress in the dumps, the 2024 parliamentary elections will be largely fought between the BJP and the regional satraps and there is no doubt that Mamata has emerged as one of the most powerful regional leaders after this election. Can she be a rallying point for all the non-Congress and non-BJP political forces? Only time will tell.

—Vikas Khanna is a journalist and columnist with over three decades of experience. The views expressed are personal

Click here to read his other columns

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Nandigram official claims his ‘life in danger’, says Mamata Banerjee

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

A day after Trinamool Congress’s victory in West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday claimed that the Returning Officer of Nandigram has said his life would be in danger if he allows recounting.

She added that even Governor congratulated her for Nandigram win but suddenly everything changed.

“I received an SMS from someone wherein Returning Officer of Nandigram has written to someone if he allows recounting then his life would be under threat. For four hours server was down, Governor also congratulated me. Suddenly everything changed,” she said.

She also urged her supporters to maintain peace amid reports of violence.

“I appeal to everyone to maintain peace and not indulge in any violence. We know BJP and Central Forces have tortured us a lot but we have to maintain peace. At present, we have fight COVID19,” she added.

BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari on Sunday outsmarted TMC supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee by a margin of 1,956 votes to emerge the winner in the constituency.

The Trinamool Congress has demanded recounting in Nandigram constituency, alleging a number of illegalities in the vote counting process.

Meanwhile, Mamata Banerjee will be sworn in as the chief minister of West Bengal for the third time on May 5 (Wednesday). The newly-elected MLAs of the Trinamool Congress unanimously elected Banerjee as the legislative party leader at a meeting, its secretary-general Partha Chatterjee said.

Stay tuned with us for all the updates on Assembly election results. Click here

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

West Bengal Election Results 2021: Here’s full list of winners

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) has emerged victorious for the third consecutive time as it retains power in the state with a clear majority. The party performed beyond expectations and predictions with over 200 seats. BJP emerged as the main opposition in the state with over 70 seats while once powerful left parties and congress have been literally decimated.

Here’s the full list of winning/ leading candidates:

(Image & data source: NEWS18)

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Assembly Election Results Highlights: Mamata to take oath as West Bengal CM on May 5

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

Assembly Elections 2021 Results Highlights: Mamata Banerjee fended off a spirited challenge by a resurgent BJP in West Bengal with a landslide victory for her Trinamool Congress on Sunday for a third consecutive term and the saffron party and the LDF were poised to form government again in Assam and Kerala respectively while the DMK stormed back to power in Tamil Nadu after a gap of 10 years.

The mercurial Banerjee, however, lost the Nandigram seat in a close fight with the BJP candidate and her former lieutenant Suvendu Adhikari. According to the Election Commission of India(ECI) website updated at 11.15 pm, Adhikari won by a margin of 1,956 votes to retain the prestigious seat. The TMC has demanded a recount.

While the TMC, the BJP and the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front(LDF) decisively beat anti-incumbency in three of the four states and Puducherry that went to polls, the saffron ally AIADMK ceded space to the opposition DMK-led alliance in Tamil Nadu which is set to herald a new sunrise and also rise of the son. The DMK is led by M K Stalin, son of late DMK founder M Karunanidhi, while ‘rising Sun’ is the party symbol. The AINRC-led NDA is set to come to power in the union territory of Puducherry.

The TMC’s spectacular win in West Bengal in many ways is seen as a victory of the non-saffron parties who hope to capitalise on the triumph in the eastern state, Tamil Nadu and Kerala to revive attempts to form a Federal front to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The victories come barely a month after Banerjee wrote to Opposition leaders urging them to unite against the BJP.

The poll outcome for the BJP comes against the backdrop of the COVID-19 crisis which has posed a massive challenge to the Centre and also the protests by farmers at Delhi borders to roll back the three contentious farm laws.

For the Congress, the main opposition party in the Lok Sabha, the electoral fortunes took another dip as it failed to make a mark in the current round of assembly polls, the only minor consolation being the victory of its ally DMK-led alliance in Tamil Nadu.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered his congratulations to Banerjee, Stalin and Kerala Chief Minister and CPI-M veteran Pinarayi Vijayan.

The cynosure of the elections, held over March and April as the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic picked up pace to finally ravage large parts of the country, was the high-stakes, acrimonious TMC-BJP contest in West Bengal.

Belying all expectations, the TMC scored a spectacular victory overcoming the might of the BJP after a bitter campaign that had turned into a virtual duel between Chief Minister Banerjee and Prime Minister Modi.

“It is the victory of the people of Bengal, the victory of democracy. Bengal has saved India today. This landslide victory came after fighting against several odds — the Centre, its machinery, its agencies.

“This victory has saved humanity,” Banerjee said, addressing the press as she stood on her feet for the first time in nearly two months.

The campaigning was marked by images of Banerjee in a wheelchair with a thick cast on her leg after she was injured during electioneering.

The TMC was poised to get a two-third majority bagging 189 seats and ahead in 25 in the 292-member house while the BJP won 62 seats and was leading in 14. BJP had just three seats in the outgoing house.

I respect the verdict of the people of Nandigram, but have got landslide victory in Bengal, Banerjee said. The TMC supremo added that she would move court against the ‘mischief’ in Nandigram.

The BJP worked hard to build inroads in West Bengal and fielded its top leaders, including Prime Minister Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, but power in the state proved to be elusive.

The Left parties, which once called the state their bastion, and the Congress were demolished and not even a factor in the eight-phase election.

In terms of vote share, the TMC had 48.1 percent of the votes against the BJP’s 37.8 percent.

Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor hailed Banerjee for her “spectacular victory” and said the BJP has met its match in Bengal and lost.

The BJP had reason to smile in Assam where the ruling NDA was ahead of the Congress-led Grand Alliance.

The BJP won or led in a total of 58 seats while its ally AGP won or led in 9 and the UPPL in 6 in the 126-member House.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said the people had blessed them.

We can say for sure that the BJP will form government in Assam. We are coming back to power with our partners AGP and UPPL,” Sonowal told reporters.

In Kerala, the LDF readied for another term, the first time in four decades that the same grouping could form the government for the second consecutive time.

The LDF won 70 of the 140 seats and is leading in another 29 segments, according to the Election Commission. The UDF has won 32 seats and is leading in nine, while BJP has failed to win any seat.

Among the prominent losers was ‘Metroman’ E Sreedharan, who had joined the BJP with much fanfare ahead of the elections.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan dedicated the historic victory of the LDF to the people and said it proved there was no room for communal politics in the state.

Vijayan’s decades long political acumen came to the fore as a combination of factors contributed to LDF’s historic victory, including delivery of a string of populist measures like distribution of free foodgrains and provision kits to all people, better management of the COVID-19 situation by gearing up the public health care system and enhanced and prompt pay out of social security pensions.

“I thank the people of Kerala for reposing faith in an unprecedented manner in the way that the previous LDF government tackled all the challenges that the people have faced and also the pandemic scourge. The government gave a Kerala model to the world on how to handle the pandemic,” CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said.

In Tamil Nadu, the DMK alone had won or was leading in 133 of the 234 seats, a feather in its president Stalin’s cap. Its partner Congress was ahead in 16, while ruling AIADMK was likely to end up with just 69 seats.

Both the Dravidian parties went into the election without their stalwarts, J Jayalalithaa for the AIADMK and M Karunanidhi for the DMK.

Tamil Nadu was also the one bright spot for the Congress where the DMK-led opposition alliance, of which it is a part, trounced the AIADMK-BJP coalition. In the rest of the states, it was a story of more losses underscoring its electoral insignificance.

Though the Election Commission had banned victory roadshows and vehicle rallies, crowds of jubilant supporters of various parties could be seen celebrating in various places in violation of Covid norms.

The drumbeats of victory came in the backdrop of an election which will be remembered for vast, crowded rallies with most people without proper masks —amid the pandemic.

Here are the live updates from the Assembly Elections 2021 Results and government formation in West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Assembly election results 2021: Beyond West Bengal and the defeat for the BJP

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

So the wait is over, and the results of the assembly elections are here to analyse. However, the debate on the West Bengal verdict has overshadowed the mandate in the four other states and union territory. Interestingly, there are several takeaways to highlight from the election results. Because not only the TMC in West Bengal but the NDA in Assam and the LDF in Kerala have also returned to power, and the contests in these states were no less fierce.

Perhaps the debates are centred around the decision of West Bengal because the BJP failed to achieve its much-publicised ‘Mission 200+’ in the state. And the mandate is being evaluated as an embarrassing defeat of the saffron party since it left nothing to chance in its attempt to dislodge the TMC regime. Ironically, the campaign was equally bitter in Assam, where the BJP alliance is retaining power, but probably that does not merit the recognition of the critics.

Nonetheless, before discussing the West Bengal results and the electoral message for the BJP, let’s examine the decision of the other states beginning with Kerala, where the ruling Left Democratic Front broke the 40-year long jinx. CPM stalwart and incumbent Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan scripted history by returning to power as Kerala has been voting alternatively for the LDF and the UDF in the past four decades.

While Pinarayi Vijayan won the confidence of the people by handling the Covid pandemic and the 2018 Kerala floods appropriately, the election mandate is indeed a loss of face for the Congress, which probably relied on the voting pattern to take turns to power. The blow is harder for Rahul Gandhi, who extensively campaigned for the party in Kerala – and Assam – hoping that the double victory would make his reascension to the Congress president post easy. Now the plan could be deferred, maybe till the assembly elections next year.

The Assam results are even more worrying for Congress because the party believed that an alliance with the AIUDF would help it consolidate all anti-BJP votes in the state. Both Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi vociferously raised the CAA issue to woo the Muslims and the Bengali speaking Hindus. They widely canvassed the state reaching out to all sections of voters but failed to stop the BJP-led government from being reelected.

In Tamil Nadu, more than the anti-incumbency factor, the AIADMK seems to have paid the price of being a divided house with multiple faces around, while the DMK promised a single-handed rule in the state. Even though the BJP is presumed to be controlling the AIADMK government, the party never held any significance for the voters in Tamil Nadu. So there was almost nothing at stake for the saffron party to lose here.

In Union Territory Puducherry, however, the BJP has made inroads in this election, winning several seats, while the NDA alliance is set to form the government. Clearly, the people gave an edge to the NDA despite the outcry of the Congress, which blamed the BJP for the fall of the Narayanasamy government.

Coming back to West Bengal, one should not lose sight of the pattern in which the state has always voted. From the Congress regime to the Left government to the TMC rule in West Bengal, the voters have never switched their loyalty in a single election. It has always been years of build-up before a party finally came to power. The TMC (post the split with the Congress in 1998) made it to the Writers’ Building in its third attempt in 2011.

The BJP, with just over 10 percent vote share in the 2016 assembly elections, managed to win only three seats in West Bengal. The crucial gain was witnessed in the 2019 general elections when its vote share jumped to 40.7%, and the saffron party bagged 16 Lok Sabha seats. This time around, the BJP had generated huge anticipations with its high-voltage, aggressive campaigning. But, if West Bengal’s electoral history is any yardstick, only a miracle would have projected the BJP to the seat of power in its first serious attempt.

In truth, what the BJP has gained in this election has come from the loss of the Sanjukta Morcha. Mamata Banerjee’s TMC has not only survived but also emerged stronger in West Bengal. The victory is exceptional because she fought it all on her own, despite hordes of her former aides quitting the TMC. However, this is also a fact that now she will have to face a stronger BJP in the state assembly.

Undoubtedly, the Modi factor couldn’t make a big difference in West Bengal, but it certainly played its role in the BJP’s growth. And it also can’t be denied that the electorate may have exercised their franchise intelligently, choosing Mamata Banerjee for the Chief Minister’s post, and when it came to the next Lok Sabha elections, they may send even more BJP MPs from the state to support Narendra Modi for PM in 2024.

The BJP must understand that ridiculing Didi in the rallies did no good to the party, nor it behoved anyone to do it. The mockery certainly galvanised the votes of women and TMC sympathisers in Mamata Banerjee’s favour. The BJP must learn from this mistake and not repeat it.

The BJP should humbly accept the verdict and focus on building its base in West Bengal for future elections. Despite provocations, the BJP leaders must not engage in rancorous verbal wars with the critics over the Bengal results. They should also be mindful that the party still has the mandate to lead the nation till 2024. And it should make the most of it trying to take the country forward. No matter what, the BJP leadership’s current priority should be to pull India out of the Covid crisis.

—Om Tiwari is a Delhi-based journalist and columnist. The views expressed are personal

Click to read his other columns

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow