BJP has performed its best ever in Medinipur, winning 13 out of 14 assembly seats

Kolkata, June 13 (HS). BJP's performance in West Bengal's East Medinipur district from the 2016 assembly elections to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections is a lesson in many respects. If we look at the figures, it is clear that Kanthi and Tamluk parliamentary constituencies can be benchmarks for the party's future electoral strategies.

The assembly-wise breakup of the Lok Sabha election results shows that of the 14 assembly constituencies in East Medinipur, BJP candidates were ahead in 13 of the seven constituencies each under Kanthi and Tamluk. The only exception was Patashpur under Kanthi Lok Sabha, where the ruling Trinamool Congress was ahead. With a lead in 13 of the 14 assembly constituencies, the BJP snatched the Kanthi and Tamluk seats from the Trinamool Congress. In the 2019 elections, Trinamool candidates had won from here.

At that time, the BJP had won 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state. But in 2019, the current Leader of Opposition (LOP) in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, was with the Trinamool Congress. A native of Purba Medinipur district, Adhikari was a member of the state cabinet at that time.

If compared to the 2016 assembly elections, it will become clear how the BJP has strengthened its organisational network in East Medinipur district over the years. In 2016, BJP candidates not only faced defeat in all the 14 assembly constituencies in the district, but they also finished third in all of them.

The Trinamool Congress' winning streak continued in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as well. In this, the ruling party's candidates won both Kanthi and Tamluk seats.

Later in 2020, Adhikari joined the BJP. His joining the BJP strengthened the organisational network of the BJP in East Medinipur district.

In the 2021 assembly elections, the BJP tasted success in East Medinipur for the first time. The party won eight of the 14 seats there, while the remaining six seats went in favour of the Trinamool Congress. In the six seats where Trinamool Congress candidates won, the BJP candidate came second and the Congress-Left Front alliance finished third. Adhikari himself was elected from the Nandigram assembly constituency under Tamluk Lok Sabha. He defeated Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

However this time in the Lok Sabha elections 2024, the BJP has recorded its best ever electoral performance in East Medinipur.