KOLKATA: She has often smelt a “conspiracy” or “sabotage” against her government in the past. Detractors have been labelled “Maoists” no matter what their political affiliation. Now West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has asked police and intelligence sleuths in the state to crack a rather unusual case. They have been told to investigate how the BJP made inroads into Trinamool Congress’ vote share in Bengal.
Though the TMC won 34 out of a total of 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state, the increase in BJP’s vote share from six per cent in 2009 to 17 per cent this time has had the leadership very worried. A furious Mamata has asked the state home secretary to submit a detailed report mentioning reasons why the BJP polled such large number of votes and also identify the districts and the break-up of votes in each Lok Sabha constituency. While the state Intelligence Branch headed by ADG Banibrata Basu has been tasked with compiling the report on the 17 districts, Kolkata Police commissioner Surajit Kar Purkayastha has been asked to file his report on Kolkata. The Special Branch of the city police has already started its investigation.
If the percentage of votes polled by each party in the Lok Sabha polls is converted into Assembly seats, the TMC led in 215 seats out of a total 294 seats. The Congress led in 28 seats, the Left Front in 27 seats and the BJP in 24 seats.
In the recently concluded general elections, the BJP won two seats—Asansol (where its nominee Babul Supriyo sprang a surprise) and Darjeeling (where the victory of S S Ahluwalia was a foregone conclusion as the Gorkha Janmukhti Morcha (GJM) supported him). Babul Supriyo victory has upset the electoral calculations of both the TMC and the Left Front. The BJP has practically no organization in the region and its trade union wing—the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh—has little influence among the workforce. While the BJP won two seats, in 10 Lok Sabha constituencies it received more than 20 per cent votes polled and in 15 more it received more than 10 per cent leading to an overall percentage of 17. Even in the metropolis, where the BJP practically has no organizational strength except in a few wards in north Kolkata, the BJP candidates were runners up in the two Lok Sabha seats polling 25.65 and 25.89 percent votes, respectively.
The reports submitted to Mamata prior to the polls did not predict this sudden BJP rise. Instead of relying solely on her party district units for reports analysing the results, Mamata has decided to engage intelligence units of the state for a thorough analysis. Apparently, it is now clear that not only a large number of Left votes shifted to the BJP bank, but a sizeable section of TMC voters also voted for BJP.