The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to win all three Rajya Sabha seats from West Bengal in the July 24 by-elections, as both factions of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) have decided not to contest, people familiar with the matter said.
The BJP controls 208 of the state’s 294 Assembly seats. Of the 80 TMC candidates who won the April elections, at least 65 have joined the rebel camp led by Ritabrata Banerjee, who was recognized as the leader of the opposition by the Speaker of Parliament in June.
“The issue of fielding candidates for the Rajya Sabha does not arise because the numbers are incorrect,” Ritabrata Banerjee said. TMC Rajya Sabha member Dola Sen, a Mamata Banerjee loyalist, alleged that Ritabrata Banerjee and the MLAs in his camp engineered the split only to help the BJP secure more seats in Parliament. “Why will they contest? They are with the BJP. They want all the privileges and facilities they enjoyed while the TMC was in power. All they have to do in return is make some statements that sound like opposition,” Sen said.
Read also: Rebels ‘seize’ TMC office in Kolkata 24 hours after ECI meeting: ‘We are indigenous’
“We won 80 seats. We would have won at least one Rajya Sabha seat if these people had not helped the BJP,” she added.
In the three-seat bypoll, a candidate needs about 70 votes to win. In the Assembly polls, the Congress and the Aam Janata Unnayan Party won two seats each although the latter has only one MLA who contested on both the seats and won. The Communist Party of India (Maoist) and the Indian Secular Front each won one seat.
The Election Commission announced the results of the by-elections on Monday. The seats fell vacant after three TMC Rajya Sabha members — Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, Sushmita Dev and Prakash Chik Baraik — resigned in quick succession in June when TMC’s defeat in the Assembly elections sparked an unprecedented crisis in the party.
Roy and Barrick’s terms would have naturally ended in 2029 while Dave could have continued in the Senate until 2030.
Also Read: Rajya Sabha polls for 3 Bengali seats may force ECI to call ‘real’ Trinamool
Debjit Sarkar, BJP spokesperson in Bengal, denied Sen’s allegations.
“The people of Bengal have rejected the TMC and given us the mandate. We don’t need anyone. Our focus is only on the next five years,” Sarkar said.
The BJP currently controls three of the thirteen Rajya Sabha seats from West Bengal. The remaining 10 TMC MPs are known to be loyal to Mamata Banerjee.
