In the 2019 elections, Trinamool Congress, BJP, Congress and CPI(M) had all fielded their candidates. However, this time Left Front-backed Congress candidate Mortaza Hossain and BJP’s Dhananjay Ghosh are contesting against Trinamool’s Khalilur Rahman…reports Asian Lite News
In the midst of anti-incumbency and pro-BJP opinion poll projections in West Bengal, Trinamool Congress can expect a comfortable victory in the Jangipur Lok Sabha constituency in Murshidabad district.
Jangipur, which will go to polls in the third phase, has elected the Late President Pranab Mukherjee twice from the seat in 2004 and 2009.
Going by the trend about how the ruling party turned Jangipur into its virtual fortress since the 2019 elections, it can be safely said that only a miracle can change the trend this time.
In 2019, Trinamool Congress candidate Khalilur Rahman, who has been re-nominated by the party, was elected by a massive margin of 2,45,782 votes.
The ruling party maintained its absolute supremacy in the 2021 West Bengal assembly polls as well. In 2021, the Trinamool Congress won all seven assembly constituencies under the Jangipur constituency. The strong wave of BJP throughout West Bengal in 2021 was not felt anywhere in the entire Jangipur.
The ruling party received a minor jolt in the 2023 by-elections for the Sagardighi assembly constituency, one of the seven under Jangipur Lok Sabha, when the Left Front-supported Congress candidate Bayron Biswas bagged a surprise victory.
However, the festivity in the Congress-Left Front combined camp did not last long as Biswas joined Trinamool Congress just a month after getting elected as the Congress candidate.
In the 2019 elections, Trinamool Congress, BJP, Congress and CPI(M) had all fielded their candidates. However, this time Left Front-backed Congress candidate Mortaza Hossain and BJP’s Dhananjay Ghosh are contesting against Trinamool’s Khalilur Rahman.
Also, in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Rahman got 43.15 per cent of the vote share while BJP’s Mafuza Khatun came second with 24.3 per cent vote share, followed by Congress’s Abhijit Mukherjee at 19.61 per cent and CPI(M)’s Zulfiqar Ali with 7.32 per cent.
However, some voters, who are anti-TMC and anti-BJP, may vote in favour of Congress Mortaza Hossain in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Despite the landslide victory of Trinamool Congress in 2019, a clear consolidation of Hindu voters in favour of BJP was evident which aided the party candidate Mafuza Khatun to finish second with 24.3 per cent vote share.
BJP’s Dhananjay Ghosh, a greenhorn in electoral politics, is also depending on further consolidation of the Hindu votes to work in his favour.
With over 14 lakh, the Jangipur constituency has earned a negative tag for recording maximum cases of poll-related violence, especially during the panchayat elections which are not monitored by the Election Commission of India.
Constituency watch: Tough battle for sitting Trinamool MP from Kolkata-Uttar to retain fort against former party loyalist…reports Asian Lite News
The contest in the Kolkata-Uttar Lok Sabha constituency which came into existence in 2009 after the orders of the Delimitation Commission will be interesting during the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
The sitting Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha member, Sudip Bandopadhyay, is facing a tough challenge from one of his old party loyalists and six-time MLA Tapas Roy, who is contesting on behalf of the BJP.
Also in the fray is the former Congress Rajya Sabha member and veteran party leader Pradip Bhattacharya, who is contesting as the Left Front-supported Congress candidate.
The contest could have been another cakewalk for Bandopadhyay this time as well had Tapas Roy not filed his papers. However, the BJP fielding Roy against him had made things complicated for Bandopadhyay.
First, since the time tension between Bandopadhyay and Roy (then within Trinamool Congress) started surfacing, a number of ruling party leaders from Kolkata-Uttar publicly sympathised with Roy.
The outspoken Trinamool Congress General Secretary, Kunal Ghosh even then publicly accused Bandopadhyay of encouraging and nurturing factionalism within the party in Kolkata-Uttar. After Roy resigned from his membership of the Assembly and joined the BJP, Ghosh observed that had the leadership been serious the exit of Roy could have been prevented.
What made Roy’s joining BJP different from many others is that he had set a precedent of first resigning as a member of the Legislative Assembly as well as the general member of Trinamool Congress before officially joining the BJP even though his current term as an MLA was till 2026.
Roy had for quite some time been appealing to his own party leader not to neglect the issue of corruption and take disciplinary action against those indulging in corruption.
Second, barring a single-day ED operation at his residence in connection with the municipalities’ recruitment case, never ever has there been a single allegation of involvement in corruption in his long political career. Roy, who is always known for his humble lifestyle and amicable behaviour has claimed that the single-day ED operation at his residence was orchestrated by the leader of Trinamool Congress in Lok Sabha, Sudip Bandopadhyay.
While resigning from Trinamool Congress, Roy’s main grievance was that while Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had been so vocal in supporting the accused mastermind, Sheikh Shahjahan, in the attack on ED and CAPF personnel in Sandeshkhali, she had never raised her voice over the ED operations at his residence.
Following the ED raids at his residence, several leaders from the opposition camps, including BJP, Congress and CPI(M) said that corruption links with him are simply not true.
As Roy still has major followers within the Trinamool Congress, a silent revolt within the ruling party in favour of Roy can go against Bandopadhyay.
After being nominated, Roy said that his joining the BJP was not with any expectation but with a case which is to fight against corruption which he was unable to do while being in Trinamool Congress.
“There is no doubt that BJP is coming to power again in the country with Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister for the third consecutive term. If I am elected, I will raise the issues of grievances of the people of West Bengal on the floor of the Parliament,” Roy said.
On the other hand, Bandopadhyay has hinted that this will be the last electoral battle that he is fighting. “I want to quit electoral politics like Lionel Messi after winning,” Bandopadhyay has said.
Another advantage for Roy is that he is much younger than both Bandyopadhyay and Congress candidate, Pradip Bhattacharya. While Roy is 67, Bandopadhyay is 75 and Bhattacharya is nearing his eighties.
Tripura CM Holds Door-to-Door Campaign
Gearing up for the Lok Sabha elections, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha on Monday conducted a door-to-door campaign in Bamutia village in the Mohanpur subdivision of West Tripura district.
A huge crowd gathered in the Bamutia village to catch a glimpse of the Tripura Chief Minister, while he marched through the streets along with his supporters.
The Tripura CM was seen talking to the area’s residents about the different schemes run by the BJP-led government.
Earlier on Saturday, the Tripura CM expressed confidence in the BJP winning the Lok Sabha polls as there had been significant development in the state.
“We had only dreamt of trains coming here. Our dream was fulfilled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He started the Act East Policy. Now we take the train to come here. When I send photos to my children, I feel proud. Now Vande Bharat will start here. PM Modi fulfils whatever he promises. All his schemes will reach 100 per cent saturation point,” Saha said in his address in Dharmanagar.
Tripura West Lok Sabha constituency is one of the two constituencies in the state of Tripura in northeastern India.
In the 2019 General elections, BJP candidate Pratima Bhowmik won this seat with 573,532 votes, while Congress candidate Subal Bhowmik received 267,843 votes and CPM candidate Shankar Prasad Dutta received 171,826 votes.
Bhowmik was also elected to the Tripura Legislative Assembly in 2023 from the Dhanpur Assembly constituency, but later on resigned from the position to retain her Lok Sabha membership. Since 2016, she has also been a State General Secretary of the BJP Tripura unit.
For the 2024 elections, Bhartiya Janata party has named Former Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb as the candidate from the West Tripura district.
Earlier, the President of the Tripura Pradesh Congress Committee, announced that major opposition parties, including CPIM, Congress, Gana Manch, All Tripura Peoples Party, CPI, and CPIML, had formed an alliance under the banner of the INDIA Alliance. This alliance aims to challenge the BJP government in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
The 2024 General elections in Tripura will be held in two phases, on April 19 and April 26, to elect the two members of the 18th Lok Sabha. (ANI)
The ED’s investigation was triggered by FIRs registered by multiple agencies including the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Lucknow, Kolkata Police, and the Uttar Pradesh Police…reports Asian Lite News
The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Delhi Zonal Office has provisionally attached an amount of Rs 10.29 Crore belonging to the All-India Trinamool Congress (AITC) party.
According to a press release, the funds were in the form of a Demand Draft tendered by AITC during the investigation into allegations of money laundering by the Alchemist Group and others.
The Alchemist Group, notably headed by Kanwar Deep Singh, an Ex-Member of Rajya Sabha from AITC, is allegedly at the centre of the investigation.
The ED’s investigation was triggered by FIRs registered by multiple agencies including the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Lucknow, Kolkata Police, and the Uttar Pradesh Police.
These FIRs implicated various individuals and group companies associated with the Alchemist Group under different sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860.
According to ED findings, M/s Alchemist Group allegedly amassed funds exceeding Rs 1800 Crore from investors and victims through its companies, primarily M/s Alchemist Holdings Limited and M/s Alchemist Township India Limited.
The funds were obtained under false pretenses of providing high returns and offering properties such as flats, villas, and plots, or high-interest rates on investments.
However, the investors were never refunded their money, and the funds were illicitly diverted to various group companies of the Alchemist Group.
Further investigation by the ED revealed that a portion of the fraudulently obtained funds was utilized by the Alchemist Group to make payments to aviation companies on behalf of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) party.
Specifically, an amount of Rs 10.29 Crore was paid by Alchemist Airways Pvt Ltd to various aviation and helicopter companies for services availed by the AITC during the campaigning for the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections.
These services were reportedly utilized by star campaigners of AITC, including Ms. Mamta Banerjee, the Hon’ble Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mukul Roy, the Ex-Union Railway Minister, and MPs such as Munmun Sen and Nusrat Jahan.
While the provisional attachment marks a significant step in the investigation, the ED has reiterated that further inquiries are underway. (ANI)
ED creating terror amongst the opposition, says Pawar
NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Monday alleged that the BJP-led government is misusing agencies like Enforcement Directorate to create fear among the opposition and called ED the “supporting party” of BJP.
Speaking to the reporters in Pune Pawar cited figures of ED actions between 2005 and 2023 and mentioned that of 5906 cases registered by ED, only 25 cases have been disposed off.
“0.42 per cent is the disposal rate and the conviction rate is just .40 per cent. The ED’s budget has risen up from 300 crores in 2022 to Rs 404 crore. During this period of between 2005 and 2023, two governments were in power which includes UPA which we were also part of and during UPA’s regime, ED investigated 26 leaders of which 5 were from Congress and 3 were from BJP. It shows that during the UPA regime, ED’s action was not politically motivated but after 2014, not a single BJP leader has been questioned,” Pawar said.
“In Karnataka one of the senior member of the party was arrested and a case was done against him …later he decided to take that case in the court ….now we are getting information that …he was proved not guilty ..this prove that how Ed is being misused” Pawar said.
He added that all these figures raise doubt as to if ED’s action under BJP was politically motivated.
“It indicates that ED has become a supporting party of BJP. BJP leaders know about the ED’s actions in advance looks like these orders come from BJP,” he said.
“During the dispensation of Manmohan Singh, ED was not misused but now the agency is being used to create fear among the opposition leaders,” he said.
Earlier, Rohit Pawar the grandson of Appasaheb and, the elder brother of NCP founder Sharad Pawar has come under scanner…in a statement, The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday said that it has provisionally attached properties worth Rs 50.2 crore under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) of the Kannad Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana Limited (Kannad SSK sugar mill) belonging to the Baramati Agro Ltd. The action is connected with the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) scam case.
The Baramati Agro Ltd is owned by NCP (SP) leader Sharad Pawar’s grandnephew MLA Rohit Pawar. It has been alleged that the MSCB illegally sold sugar factories to M/s Baramati Agro Ltd. (ANI)
Trinamool Congress MP Sushmita Dev on Monday said that the North Eastern (NE) states lack basic health and education facilities…reports Asian Lite News
Speaking in the Rajya Sabha, during a debate on grants to Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DONER), she said, “Despite being strategically the most important part of the country that shares its borders with other countries like China, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan, being rich in biodiversity and having the highest literacy rates, the North Eastern states lack basic health and education facilities.”
The MP from Assam further said that the DONER Ministry operates on 10 per cent of the entire budget of 54 ministries of the country. In 2015-16 the budget for the ministry was Rs 2,363 crore and as of 2022-23, it is only Rs 2,800 crores.
She urged the government for more budget allocation to the NE states so that work on major infrastructure projects be completed in time.
“All money allocated to NE states is dependent on their administrative strength and in the state of Assam, the whole administration has been doing the work on the National Register of Citizens (NRC) for the last two years…how will they work on the tasks of the DONER Ministry?” asked Dev.
Meanwhile, BJP MP Khamakhya Prasad Tasa said that the Assembly election in Manipur passed very peacefully as a result of the works done by the DONER Ministry in the entire regions.
Earlier, participating in the debate, Congress MP Ripun Bora said that the government has been diluting the dream of the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The lawmaker also claimed that there is slow implementation of the projects in the NE states.
However, BJP MP Bhubaneswar Kalita praised the government for the all round development of the entire North East region. He said that most of the states in the region including Assam have completed the vaccination and the health infrastructure in Assam is “taking care of the neighbouring states”.
“All oxygen plants in Assam are operational and there would not be any shortage of oxygen in the region,” he added.
Kalita also said that a sports university is being set up in Manipur to produce more and more sportsmen.
Accusing the Central government for the “low budgetary allocation”, Independent Rajya Sabha MP Ajit Singh Bhuyan said that people sitting in Delhi “will not understand the culture and aspirations of the North Eastern people, regardless of the parties that come to power in the region”.
The BJP candidates won all the 51 seats in the AMC and 165 seats in the Municipal Councils and Nagar Panchayats…reports Asian Lite News.
Notwithstanding the ruling BJP’s resounding victory on Sunday in 20 civic bodies in Tripura, the Trinamool Congress — a new entrant in the state politics, emerged as a strong political force in the Tripura politics, 14 months ahead of the crucial assembly polls in the saffron party-ruled northeastern state.
According to the political experts, with Trinamool emerging as a formidable party, a multi-corner contest is evident in the 2023 assembly elections — between the BJP, CPI-M-led Left parties, Trinamool, and the Congress, unlike in the previous elections when the main contests were mainly between the Left parties and the non-Left parties led by Congress.
Though the State Election Commission (SEC) is yet to announce the party-wise vote percentage, unofficial calculation shows that in the civic polls across Tripura, the BJP secured 59 per cent votes followed by the Left — 19.65 per cent, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) –16.39 per cent, and the Congress — 2.07 per cent.
In Thursday’s elections, around five lakh urban voters out of the state’s total electorate of 27 lakh, were eligible to cast vote.
According to the SEC, over 81 per cent of voters have exercised their franchise.
Amid allegations of pre-poll violence by all the Opposition parties, the BJP had earlier won 112 (34 per cent) seats uncontested in seven urban local bodies and after the declarations of the results on Sunday, the party wrested power in the remaining 12 municipal bodies and the politically important Agartala Municipal Corporation (AMC).
The BJP candidates won all the 51 seats in the AMC and 165 seats in the Municipal Councils and Nagar Panchayats.
According to the SEC officials, the main opposition party CPI-M won three seats in three municipal bodies in Kailashahar, Ambassa and Panisagar while the TMC won one seat in Ambassa Municipal council. The Trinamool Congress secured the second position in 27 of the 51 seats in the prestigious AMC putting up a big challenge to both the ruling BJP and the key opposition CPI-M led Left parties.
However, the Left parties and the TMC did not put up candidates in all the 334 seats in the civic elections to the AMC and 19 other urban local bodies – Municipal Councils and Nagar Panchayats — alleging unprecedented political violence, attacks and intimidations.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP President J.P. Nadda, several central leaders and Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled states have congratulated the state leaders for the party’s performance in the civic polls.
Modi tweeted: “The people of Tripura have given a clear message – that they prefer politics of good governance. I would like to thank them for the unequivocal support to BJP Tripura. These blessings give us greater strength to work for the welfare of each and every person in Tripura.”
“I would like to applaud the BJP Tripura Karyakartas who worked tirelessly on the ground and served people. Under the leadership of Shri Biplab Deb Ji, the State Government has been at the forefront of many initiatives, which the people have duly blessed,” Modi said in another tweet.
TMC’s National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee in a series of tweets described the party’s performance in the Tripura civic poll as their big success ahead of the 2023 assembly elections in the BJP-ruled Tripura.
He tweeted: “This is despite the fact that we commenced our activities barely 3 months ago and BJP in Tripura left no stone unturned to butcher democracy in Tripura. Congratulations to all the brave soldiers of AITC in Tripura for their exemplary courage. It is exceptional for a party beginning with negligible presence to successfully contest municipal elections and emerge as the principal opposition in the state with more than 20 per cent vote share,” he said in another tweet.
The BJP on the other hand claimed that despite conspiracies, the party secured a landslide victory in the civic polls.
BJP's sweeping win in Tripura, many congratulations to all, especially the @BJP4Tripura karyakartas whose dedicated efforts under the direction of Biplab Kumar Deb Ji made this a remarkable victory for BJP. pic.twitter.com/7mEK8jFAHO
Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb tweeted: “Referendum of Tripura Urban Local Body Elections declared today (Sunday) shows the faith of people of Tripura in the developmental policies of Hon’ble PM Shri Narendra Modi Ji. It also shows their belief in his motto of Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas. I am thankful to all the people of Tripura and Dev Tulya karyakartas of Tripura BJP for their affection and support. I consider your votes to BJP Tripura as blessings and these blessings motivate us to work harder for the development of all 37 Lakh people of the state.”
After Tripura became a full-fledged state around 50 years ago, the CPI-M led Left Front governed the state for 35 years (1978-1988 and 1993-2018) and the Congress and allied parties ruled for the remaining period. Since 2018, the BJP became the main political force with the TMC of late trying to set up bases in the northeastern states, leading to a multi-cornered contest in the upcoming assembly polls.
After the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the first time wrested power in Tripura in March 2018 and the rise of the new tribal-based political party Tiprahaa Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance (TIPRA) led by Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barman earlier this year, the two main traditional political forces — the CPI-M and the Congress — are gradually dwindling.
Both the Left and the Congress performed poorly in the last Lok Sabha polls in 2019, the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council in 2021 and the three-tier Gram Panchayat elections in 2019, though the opposition parties alleged “large scale rigging and malpractices by the ruling party”.
The TMC, led by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has targeted Tripura, Assam, Meghalaya, Goa and a few other states to expand its base, buoyed by its electoral success in the March-April Bengal elections.
Though no heavyweight leaders except the Congress’ Subal Bhowmik, Prakash Das and BJP MLA Ashis Das, have joined the TMC, it is organising political events for the past three months with support from its MPs, Ministers and leaders from Bengal.
Political commentator Sanjib Deb said that as a multi-cornered contest is expected in the upcoming polls, normally the ruling party gets an electoral advantage.
“The newest force TMC is yet to set up its organisational structures across the state and there is no heavyweight face in Tripura in the Bengal based party.”
In Jangipur, Hossain won by a margin of 92,480 votes while Amirul Islam won by a margin of 26,379 votes in Samserganj…reports Asian Lite News.
With West Bengal Chief minister Mamata Banerjee registering a thumping victory against BJP’s Priyanka Tibrewal in Bhabanipur, Trinamool Congress won in all the three constituencies that went for elections on September 30.
Trinamool’s Jakir Hossain and Amirul Islam won from Jangipur and Samserganj, respectively.
After 21 rounds of counting, Banerjee secured 85,263 of the total 118,580 votes, securing more than 71 per cent while Tibrewal secured 26,428 votes, little more than 22 per cent. CPI-M’s Shreejib Biwas managed to get only 4,226 votes.
For Banerjee, it was a do or die battle to retain her position as the Chief Minister because she had lost to the BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram in the Assembly election earlier this year.
“I am indebted to the people to Bhabanipur because they helped me to win with a record margin. The most interesting thing is we didn’t lose in any of the wards. The polling in Bhabanipur has always been low and there was rain. Despite that people came out in numbers and gave us votes,” said Banerjee, flanked by nephew and party General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee and his daughter.
“There was a lot of conspiracy against us and the people of Bhabanipur have given the answer. When we won in all the seats, we lost in Nandigram. The matter is subjudice and so I shall not say more,” she said, adding: “I shall not show victory signs raising two fingers. I am not selfish. Two of my colleagues are contesting from Jangipur and Samserganj and so I shall raise three fingers. They are also leading and blessing them so that they can win.”
In Jangipur, Hossain won by a margin of 92,480 votes while Amirul Islam won by a margin of 26,379 votes in Samserganj.
Hossain secured 136,444 votes while his nearest rival Sujit Das of the BJP secured 43,964 votes. On the other hand, Amirul Islam secured 96,417 votes while his nearest rival Zaidur Rahaman from Congress secured 70,038 votes.
The BJP, however, cried foul.
Addressing the media, state BJP President Sukanta Majumdar said: “We need to understand that a large number of people couldn’t come to vote or they were not allowed to come to vote. But one thing we should keep in mind… Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee thought that she would wipe out the BJP from Bhabanipur but that has not happened.”
“We are overwhelmed by the support of the people – people who, despite all odds, have come out and voted for us. This will inspire us to fight with a new spirit in future. There are four by-elections in October and we hope that we will do better in these elections,” he added.
