Kolkata, Oct. 9 -- Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Friday claimed that the BJP had won the support of a substantial section of the minority community in West Bengal, asserting that Muslims accounted for around 60 per cent of its votes in Rejinagar and 80 per cent in Nandigram, where the party established commanding leads in the bypolls.
Adhikari attributed the BJP's record win to what he described as a shift in minority voters' political preferences. "Minorities have voted in large numbers because they want to stand with the government," Adhikari said, adding that the community had found a friend in the BJP and realised that it had been misled by the previous government. The BJP's performance in the bypoll is significant, particularly in Rejinagar, where the BJP challenge established assumptions about minority voting patterns in West Bengal.
Adhikari said the party had secured around 46 per cent of the votes in the two bypolls and predicted that its vote share would cross 60% in the next elections.
"Whatever results I had predicted for the bypolls have come true," he said. The CM said that in the subsequent polls in the KMC and HMC and all other civic polls, the BJP will sweep, and so will be the results of the LS polls as well.
The CM also sought to project the outcome as an endorsement of his government, claiming that the state had witnessed a peaceful atmosphere since the BJP came to power. He contrasted the bypolls with allegations of violence and electoral malpractice during previous elections.
The BJP's emphatic leads in the two constituencies are likely to intensify political debate over the extent of any shift in minority voting, particularly in Murshidabad district, where Rejinagar has a Muslim electorate of over 70 per cent.
However, the bypoll figures alone do not establish the voting preferences of individual communities, political experts felt.
"A detailed assessment of booth-level results and demographic voting patterns will be necessary to determine whether the BJP has made a durable breakthrough among minority voters or whether the outcome reflects constituency-specific factors," they said.
Later in the day, the CM wrote on social media: "I bow in deepest gratitude before the generous People of Nandigram for this historic & record-breaking mandate. Nandigram has emphatically reaffirmed its unshakeable faith in the development politics of Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi Ji and the dynamic Central BJP Leadership under the guidance of @BJP4India President Shri @NitinNabin Ji, Shri @blsanthosh Ji, Shri @AmitShah Ji. This result is an overwhelming endorsement of our new BJP Government in West Bengal and our pro-people, transparent and development-driven governance.
The People have clearly spoken, West Bengal chooses progress over misrule and chaos."
The BJP's sweeping victories in the Nandigram and Rejinagar Assembly bypolls triggered allegations of electoral malpractice from MAITC supremo Mamata Banerjee and national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.
They questioned the fairness of the polls, while the Congress demanded accountability from the Election Commission and the administration.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.