BJP's Bengal Campaign Highlights Success

The newly elected Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, initiated his 2024 Lok Sabha election campaign in Bengal on March 1st.

BJP losses majority of seats, Modi campaigned in Bengal
Image by Mint

The campaign kicked off with the BJP's inaugural "Vijay Sankalp" rally in Arambag, Hooghly. The BJP had high expectations for significant gains in Bengal, and Narendra Modi focused his efforts on the state. He concluded the three-month campaign with a grand roadshow in Kolkata on May 29th, during which he held 22 public meetings and conducted a roadshow in the city for the first time.

Despite his extensive campaigning, the election results showed that the BJP, led by Narendra Modi, was unable to sway the vote in Bengal. Out of the 23 public meetings and roadshows led by Narendra Modi, covering 27 Lok Sabha constituencies in Bengal, the BJP lost in 20.

Furthermore, BJP failed to retain five seats - Coochbehar, Bankura, Medinipur, Barrackpore, and Jhargram - which they had won in 2019, despite Narendra Modi's campaign efforts this year.

The BJP’s Agnimitra Paul was defeated by TMC’s June Maliah in Medinipur, a seat previously held by the former Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh in 2019. Ghosh, who was moved out of Medinipur this time, lost the Bardhaman-Durgapur seat where Narendra Modi had campaigned. He was defeated by TMC’s cricketer-turned-politician Kriti Azad by a significant margin of 1,37,981 votes. The BJP was unable to hold onto Barrackpore and Jhargram, despite Narendra Modi holding rallies in both these seats.

In the high-profile Krishnanagar seat, Narendra Modi made two appearances, holding two public meetings for the BJP. The party nominated Amrita Roy of the former Krishnanagar royal palace against TMC’s Mahua Moitra, who had been expelled from the previous Lok Sabha. Moitra won the seat by a margin of 56,705 votes. In fact, Narendra Modi had personally spoken to Roy and Rekha Patra, the BJP’s Basirhat candidate, over the phone after their candidacies were announced. Both were defeated.

Narendra Modi also held his first-ever roadshow in Bengal for the BJP candidate for Kolkata North, Tapas Roy. Roy, a seasoned TMC MLA who recently defected to the BJP, ran from the prestigious Kolkata Uttar seat against TMC veteran Sudip Bandopadhyay. Roy was defeated by a margin of 92,560 votes.

The results indicate that the BJP was unable to break TMC’s stronghold in south Bengal, despite Narendra Modi’s extensive campaigning. The BJP lost the majority of the seats in the region where Narendra Modi campaigned. These include Arambagh, Hooghly, Barasat, Bolpur, Barrackpore, Howrah, Uluberia, Jhargram, Jadavpur, Mathurapur, and Bardhaman Purba.

The seven seats where the BJP emerged victorious, where Narendra Modi had campaigned, are primarily from north Bengal - Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Raiganj, Balurghat, Maldah Uttar, and two seats from the Jungalmahal region, Purulia and Bishnupur. All of these seats were also won by the BJP in 2019.