Outlined in Article 168 of theConstitution of India, the West Bengal Legislative Assembly is the only house of theunicameral legislature ofWest Bengal, not a permanent body, and subject todissolution.[8] The assembly term lasts for five years unless it is dissolved earlier.Members of the Legislative Assembly are directly elected by the people, and the tenure of the Sixteenth West Bengal Legislative Assembly was scheduled to end on 30 May 2021.[9]
Since theby-elections held for theKanthi South seat in 2017, it became evident that theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had overtaken theLeft Front as the primary opposition party in the state.[11] According to variouspolitical analysts, the shifting of the Left Front and other opposition voters towards the BJP caused the party's vote share to significantly increase.[12][13] In spite of widespread violence, the BJP emerged as the second largest party in the2018 elections to the statepanchayats mainly due to the shifting of the Left Front's voter base. The long-held stereotype ofBengali Hindus being averse to right-wing politics was shattered when the BJP won the2018 assembly elections in Tripura, another Indian state with a Bengali Hindu majority, ruled till then byCPI(M)-led alliance of Communist parties since 1993.
Results of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal broken down into Vidhan Sabha level
In the2019 general elections, the BJP increased its number ofLok Sabha seats from 2 to 18, and took 40% of the vote share, an increase from 11% in the 2016 elections.Trinamool Congress (TMC) was reduced from 34 to 22 seats,Indian National Congress (INC) was reduced from 4 to 2 seats, and for the first time since their individual inceptions, no party from theLeft Front (namelyCPI(M),CPI,AIFB &RSP) was able to win a single seat from the state.[16] This was the best ever performance of the BJP in the state (where it had never won more than 2 seats) in terms of both seats & voteshare. Public anger towards corruption and hooliganism of a section of TMCcadres in rural areas during the 2018 panchayat elections, religious polarisation by BJP fueled by resentment of a section ofBengali Hindu society towardsMamata Banerjee's tactics of Muslim appeasement,[17] and large scale support of theRajbongshi andMatua communities forgranting Indian citizenship to exclusively non-Muslim Bangladeshi immigrants[18] over fears of a demographic change fuelled by infiltration of undocumented Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh, allegedly supported by Mamata Banerjee have been cited as important reasons behind the rise of BJP in West Bengal alongside the decline of Left Front.
WithNarendra Modi becoming the only non-Congressprime minister to remain in power for two consecutive terms (amounting to ten years) without depending on the support of theNational Democratic Alliance, and the BJP fulfilling the wish of its founderShyamaprasad Mukherjee[c] byrevoking the special status of Jammu and Kashmir[19] and long standing promise of resolving theAyodhya dispute in favour ofHindus, the party considered the formation of a BJP-ledstate government in West Bengal (a state which has historically never voted for right-wing parties in large numbers) for the first time as a means of paying homage to Mukherjee, who hailed from there. A BJP victory in West Bengal would have also demoralised Mamata Banerjee's attempts of creating a non-BJP non-Congress alliance of regional parties that might play an important role in the upcoming general elections.[20][21]
BJP increased their seats in the assembly from 3 to 53 when theWest Bengal Legislative Assembly was dissolved through defections from TMC, INC, and Left Front leaders, and by-elections from2016 to 2021. A prominent defector in December 2020 wasSuvendu Adhikari,[22] who was a long-time associate of Mamata Banerjee, and a state cabinet minister who was dissatisfied over the rising influence of her nephewAbhishek Banerjee in the party. However, Adhikari revealed that he was in contact with the BJP since 2014 after he joined the party.[23] His fatherSisir Adhikari, the MP fromKanthi, also defected from TMC to BJP.[24] Another cabinet minister,Rajib Banerjee, also joined BJP.[25]
The pandemic became an election issue.[31][32] The government was accused of "fudging" the count of positive cases and deaths in the region,[33] and the AITC-led state government and BJP-led union government blamed each other for the surge in COVID-19 infections over the course of the campaign.[34]
The BJP accused Mamata Banerjee of not attending COVID-19 emergency management meetings held during the months of election campaigning, despite the second wave of infections,[35] and for also holding election rallies. Sanjukta Morcha held the firstBrigade rally ahead of polling in West Bengal.[36] In mid-April, TMC requested holding the remaining phases of the elections in a single phase amid the rising number of COVID cases,[37] but it was rejected by the Election Commission of India (ECI).[38]
Post Cyclone Amphan situation of Deshbandhu park in Kolkata.
In May 2020, a year before the 2021 elections, Cyclone Amphan hit the state.[39][31] After it passed, widespread allegations of mismanagement[40] and relief scam were reported.[41][42] Protests broke out in some districts over the allegations,[43][44] and the opposition made it an election issue ahead of the Assembly polls.[45][46]
Citizenship, immigration and refugee issues
In 2019, the BJP-led Union Government passed the CAA in Parliament, promising citizenship to immigrants andrefugees belonging toreligious minorities inBangladesh, and providing them with rehabilitation.[11][47] The BJP's Bengali booklet released in January 2020 claimed that theNational Register of Citizens was implemented to identify allegedly undocumented illegalMuslim immigrants, but religiously persecutedHindus,Sikhs,Buddhists,Christians,Jains,Parsi, and other religious minorities would be "shielded" by the CAA.[48][49]
Other issues
Polarisation amongst various religious,linguistic, andcaste communities were also likely to play a role in this election.[50] Both TMC and BJP had promised schemes for various communities.[51][52] Although previously mobilized by Left governments against elites under the "class" narrative, theDalits of West Bengal began to assert their identity politically.[53][54][55] Religious polarization is particularly intense in districts bordering Bangladesh, such as North 24 Parganas. Arguments regarding who are native to the state and constituencies were also likely to impact the elections.[56][57][58] Dissatisfaction and defection of many TMC leaders to BJP, allegedly due to rising influence of Abhishek Banerjee and Kishor in party administration was also likely to impact the elections.[59]
An event was organised by theMinistry of Cultural Affairs inKolkata'sVictoria Memorial to commemorate NetajiSubhas Chandra Bose's 125th birth anniversary, which was attended by PM Narendra Modi and CM Mamata Banerjee among others. A large number of BJP activists were present in the crowd.[60][61] Just as Banerjee got up to speak, BJP supporters started chanting "Jai Shri Ram" which prompted the CM to abandon her speech.[62] This incident led to a political slugfest between the BJP and the TMC ahead of the upcoming elections. Meanwhile, Bengal BJP presidentDilip Ghosh made controversial remarks about Netaji.[63] Mamata claimed that the BJP had "insulted Netaji andBengal" by their actions.[64][65] The BJP leadership criticised Banerjee while the Left Front and the Congress backed her and condemned the BJP for the incident of Victoria Memorial.[66][67][68] Not only political personalities but also non-political people from different levels of the society, including Netaji's grandnephewSugata Bose, condemned the incident of chantingreligiopolitical slogans by BJP supporters which was unlikely for an apolitical event dedicated to Netaji.[69][70][71]
Schedule
The Chief Election Commissioner,Sunil Arora holding a press conference to announce the schedule for Legislative Assembly election of West Bengal along withAssam,Kerala,Tamil Nadu, andPuducherry, inNew Delhi on 26 February 2021. The Election Commissioners, Sushil Chandra and Rajiv Kumar and the senior officials of ECI are also seen.
The election schedule was announced on 26 February 2021, and the election was held in eight phases from 27 March 2021 to 29 April 2021. Votes were counted on 2 May 2021.[72][73] On the day of announcement, the ECI declared that physically disabled and elderly voters would get the benefit ofpostal voting and the time limit for voting was extended by one hour.[74][75] Due to polling abnormalities, re-polling for booth number 88 inJangipara was held in the fourth phase.[76] The elections inJangipur andSamserganj were adjourned due to the death of the INC candidate in Samserganj andRevolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) candidate in Jangipur.[77] Polling for these two seats was originally rescheduled to 13 May 2021,[78] but as that day was Eid, it was pushed back to 16 May.[79] Later on ECI adjourned polling for both constituencies and it took place on 30 September.[80] Repolling at the Amtali Madhyamik Siksha Kendra polling station inSitalkuchi was conducted on 29 April, after CISF personnel were fired on 10 April.[81]
Map of the seat sharing arrangements of the All India Trinamool Congress for the 2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election.
Both factions of theGorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) expressed support for TMC in the assembly election.[84] TMC allotted three seats in the Darjeeling to GJM, but its two factions, namely Bimal and Binoy, declared fielding their candidates in each of the three seats.[85]RJD,Shiv Sena, andJMM also endorsed Trinamool for the election.[86][87][88] TMC supported Independent candidate in Joypur after their candidate's nomination was cancelled.[89][90]
On 28 January 2021 Congress leaderAdhir Ranjan Chowdhury announced that seat-sharing talks between the Congress and Left Front had concluded for 193 seats and that the remaining 101 seats would be decided at a later point.[97][98] Out of the 193 seats agreed upon by 28 January 92 went to Congress and 101 to the Left Front.[97] Left Front & Congress announced from a rally at theBrigade Parade ground on 28 February 2021 that they would form an alliance called Sanyukta Morcha with a newly-formed outfit calledISF.[99] ISF initially claimed that they secured 30 seats from the Left Front's quota.[100] After the final seat sharing agreement was concluded, it was announced that the Left Front would contest 165 seats, Congress 92 seats, and ISF 37 seats.[101][102]
Left Front chairmanBiman Bose announced the candidates for the first and second-phase elections on 5 March alongside INC and ISF leaders, leaving seats for them in the list.[103] INC revealed its first list of 13 candidates for the first two phases on 6 March.[104] Left Front announced its second list of candidates on 10 March, consisting of several new and young faces fromAll India Students Federation (AISF),All India Youth Federation (AIYF),Students' Federation of India (SFI), andDemocratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), along with ex-ministers of the Left Front government and ex-MPs;[105] Bose also nominated DYFI West Bengal state presidentMinakshi Mukherjee as the CPI(M) candidate for theNandigram seat, which was kept vacant in the first list published on 5 March.[106] On 14 March, INC revealed their second list of 34 candidates on 14 March,[107] and ISF their first set of 20 candidates.[108] Sanyukta Morcha announced 15 more candidates on 17 March consisting of 9 from the Left Front, 2 from INC, and 4 from ISF.[109] INC revealed their third list of 39 candidates on 20 March,[110] and two more on 22 March.
Map of the seat sharing arrangement between the parties of the Sanjukta Morcha for the 2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election.
Shiv Sena initially said that they would contest in around 100 seats,[114] but later on 4 March 2021 announced that they would not contest and would support Mamata Banerjee and TMC.[115]
On 27 March, the ECI banned the publication of surveys andexit polls until 7:30 pm on 29 April to prevent influencing voters,[128][129] but the ban ended half an hour earlier.[130]
NK Digital Magazine's exit poll predicted victory for TMC in general election for the Samserganj seat and by-election for the Bhabanipur seat.[160][161][162]Ekhon Biswa Bangla Sangbad predicted TMC's victory in all three seats where elections took place on 30 September.[163]
Opinion poll
A number of pre-poll surveys for the elections were published by different agencies and groups in the span of one year until 27 March. Most polls contradicted each other regarding the possible outcome.[164]
NK Digital Magazine's opinion poll predicted victory for TMC in Jangipur and Samserganj.[184][185][186] They also conducted a pre-poll survey across poll-bound Assembly constituencies that predicted TMC's victory.[187][188]
Election
COVID-19 guidelines
The ECI issued various health guidelines for conducting the elections, including the use of masks, sanitisation of the polling booths, use of thermal scanners before entering the polling booths, maintaining social distancing, and so forth.[189] The maximum number of voters for each polling station was lowered to 1000 from 1500.[190]
A volunteer conductingthermal screening on voters at a polling booth during the third phase of the West Bengal Assembly Election, inUluberia, West Bengal, on 6 April 2021.
After COVID-19 cases increased in the state,[191] the ECI issued warnings for all recognised state and national political parties to strictly follow COVID-19 guidelines,[192] and banned all political rallies, public meetings, street plays andnukkad sabhas from 7 pm to 10 am starting from 16 April.[193] On 22 April 2021, before the seventh and eighth phases of voting, the ECI forbade roadshows, and added that at most 500 people were allowed in public meetings.[194] On 27 April, they issued a notification over banning victory processions on and after the day the votes were counted.[195]
In the second phase of election,Section 144 of theCode of Criminal Procedure was implemented across areas in the Tamluk and Haldia subdivisions.[201] After the fourth phase of polling, the ECI deployed an extra 71 companies of central forces.[202]
Voting
Polling officials carrying the electronic voting machines and other necessary devices required for the West Bengal Assembly Election at a distribution centre inUluberia, West Bengal, on 5 April 2021.First time voterselection ink marks after casting their vote at a polling booth during the fourth phase of the West Bengal Assembly Election at Nehru Colony Primary School,Regent Park,Kolkata, West Bengal, on 10 April 2021.Voters standing in a queue to cast their votes at a polling booth during the third phase of the West Bengal Assembly Election, inUluberia, West Bengal, on 6 April 2021.
Nearly 74lakh voters across 10,288 polling stations of West Bengal were registered in this phase of election.Webcasting was arranged for 5,392 polling stations. During this phase, a total of 10,288Ballot Units (BUs), 10,288Control Units (CUs) and 10,288Voter-verified paper audit trails (VVPATs) were used in West Bengal.
Nearly 73 lakh electorates across 10,592 polling stations of West Bengal were registered in this phase of election. Webcasting were arranged for 5,535 polling stations. During this phase, a total of 10,620 BUs, 10,620 CUs, and 10,620 VVPATs were used. 1,137Flying Squads (FS) and 1,012 StaticSurveillance Teams (SST) checked the transfer of cash, liquor, drugs andfreebies. 3 Air Intelligence Units (AIU) of the IT Department were also set up at Kolkata, Andal,Durgapur andBagdogra. 14,499 cases of Model Code of Conduct violations were reported in West Bengal with 11,630 detained until 4:30 pm of voting day.
A total of 7,852,425 voters were eligible to vote in 10,871 polling stations, out of which, 64,083 werephysically disabled voters, and 126,177 voters were above the age of 80. 22 general observers, 7 police observers and 9expenditure observers were deployed.
A total of 11,581,022 voters were eligible to vote in this phase of election, of which 50,523 were physically disabled voters, and 203,927 were voters above the age of 80.
A total of 11,347,344 voters were eligible to vote in this phase of election, of which 60,198 were physically disabled, and 179,634 were above the age of 80.
A total of 10,387,791 voters were eligible to vote in this phase of election, of which 64,266 were physically disabled and 157,290 were above the age of 80.
A total of 8,188,907 voters were eligible to vote in this phase of election, of which 50,919 were physically disabled and 101,689 were above the age of 80.
A total of 8,478,274 voters were eligible to vote in this phase of election, of which 72,094 were physically disabled, and 112,440 were above the age of 80.
On their way to attend the Brigade rally of Sanjukta Morcha, ISF workers attacked TMC activists in Bhangar.[217]
On 10 March, Mamata Banerjee filed her nomination at the Haldia sub-divisional office headquarters as the TMC candidate forNandigram. Around 6:15 pm she was injured when she was leaving the Birulia market area of that constituency. She alleged that she was pushed by "four-five people" who manhandled her and slammed the door of her car on her foot. She was taken toSSKM Hospital in Kolkata for treatment.[218] BJP MPSubramanian Swamy made a direct call to her office and inquired about her health before giving a statement wishing her good health.[219] A day after being injured, Mamata Banerjee released a video message urging people and party workers to be calm and exercise restraint.[220][221] Two days after being admitted, she was discharged at the TMC's multiple requests.[222] She alleged that the attack was orchestrated by Adhikari, who denied the claim. Eyewitness Nitai Maity, a sweet shopkeeper, said "[t]he crowd was already there. But as soon as the car arrived, it was as if the area was flooded with people. There was a bit of pushing. In the meantime, Mamata Banerjee had just opened the front door of the car and had just stepped out. Suddenly there was a push from outside and the door closed. Mamata Banerjee suddenly fell to the ground with a severe leg injury."[223] Medinipur DIG Kunal Agarwal, District Magistrate Bivu Goel, and Superintendent of Police Praveen Prakash went to Birulia Bazar, Nandigram, on Thursday morning to collect eyewitness statements before sending their report to the ECI, whose report on the incident officially ruled out any possibility of foul play and suspended two police officers for being absent from the chief minister's convoy of policemen meant to provide her safety. TMC and BJP workers clashed in front of the DM and the SP. Mamata Banerjee continued to campaign, and the BJP accused of her of trying to gain the voters' sympathy by flaunting her injured leg in an attempt to "[play] the victim card". Some self-proclaimed eyewitnesses claimed that the car door collided with an iron beam embedded on the road, butFirhad Hakim stated that it had no scratches.[224][225] TMC leaders stated that most of those who were giving eyewitness statements were BJP staff members[226][227] and asked, "If they are really 'eyewitnesses' then why did they go near the Chief Minister's convoy in that crowd (despite being workers of the BJP)?" Paritosh Jana, TMC President of the Birulia region, said, "The BJP had planted some drunken people into the crowd. They attacked the Chief Minister pretending to have a view of her. They pushed the Supremo when she opened the car's door and was about to step out. The CM did not name any political party. She had only spoken of miscreants. But the BJP is opposing in advance. (They are) giving slogans against the CM. We firmly believe that it is the work of the BJP. It's just like 'the loud voice of a thief's mother' (Bangla version of the proverb 'rogues supplant justice')."[228]
On 15 March,Mamata Banerjee claimed that at a political rally inBalarampur that goons were entering through the border ofAjodhya Hills area. She accused theBJP of planning to loot votes by sending goons from outside by trains on the eve of the election in order to intimidate voters.[229] On 23 March, she repeated these claims and made demands to seal the border areas.[230] On 26 February,Kolkata TV had reported on BJP workers entering West Bengal from theHindi Belt. Each of them was given 300 rupees per day.[231] On 29 April, some miscreants with firearms were caught on Kolkata TV cameras inBirbhum. They claimed to be outsiders and said that they were hired to do this for 10,000 rupees.[232])
In Baruipur, a TMC activist was killed in clash with members of CPI(M) and ISF.[233][234][235]
Before the first phase of election, an election vehicle was set on fire by two unknown men.[236]
On 25 March, state BJP presidentDilip Ghosh made derogatory comments against Mamata Banerjee from a political rally inPurulia for which he was issued a notice by the ECI. He raised questions on her character due to her unmarried status and stated that if she wants to flaunt her injured leg before the public to gain political dividends, then she should wearbermuda shorts (euphemism forunderwear inIndian English) instead of asaree.[237]
On 27 March, the day of first phase polling, TMC supporters protested outside booth 172 of Majna of theSouth Contai seat, alleging electronic voting machine malfunction. They alleged that casting a vote for TMC displayed the lotus sign of BJP. Similar allegations came from the closest booth to it.[238][239][240]
Two security personnel were reportedly injured in Satsatmal village,Purba Medinipur district, in a firing and bombing incident during phase 1 of polling.[241]
A BJP worker's dead body was found inPaschim Medinipur during the first phase of election.[242] The ECI said that they did not find any political motive in his death.[243]
Three TMC activists were injured in a blast inBankura during the first phase of elections.[244]
Three TMC workers were attacked in Boyal of Nandigram. One of them, Rabin Manna, was admitted to SSKM Hospital with serious injuries, and died on 9 April around 4:30 am at SSKM Hospital.[245] On 31 March, Mamata Banerjee said that her car was attacked again in Nandigram a day ago when she visited Manna's house.[246][247][248][249][250] She later claimed she was informed by Manna's wife that BJP-backed goons were threatening to abduct her daughter and they had to take refuge with a local minority family.[251]
InDantan, it was reported that the CPRF prevented people from voting. A complaint was lodged at a local police station that alleged that the CPRF were allowing BJP workers to stay in the booth and cast votes in their name.[252]
While on an official visit to Bangladesh, Modi visited the birthplace ofHarichand Thakur at Orakandi in theGopalganj district in an attempt to woo the electorally influentialMatua community of the state. Mamata Banerjee asserted his trip to Orakandi is a violation of the poll code.[253][254]
During the nomination filing by the BJP candidate inBijpur, gunshots were fired and later clashes broke out between BJP and TMC staff.[256]
On 30 March,Ashok Dinda, BJP's candidate fromMoyna,Purba Medinipur, was attacked and his vehicle vandalised during a campaign. He claimed that hundreds of people wieldinglathi and rods hurled stones at his vehicle. Dinda's shoulder was injured.[257]
During the third phase of polling (6 April), Sujata Mondal, TMC candidate inArambag, was attacked by some goons at Arandi-I booth 263.[259][260][261]
During the third phase of polling, electronic voting machines andVVPAT machines were found in the house of a TMC politician ofNorth Uluberia. The sector officer was later suspended.[262]
The TMC accused the BJP of distributing cash coupons among people to lure them to attend Modi's rally.[263][264]
In the fourth phase of polling, there were two major instances of violence, both in theSitalkuchi constituency of theCooch Behar district. In Pathantuli, a first-time voter, Ananda Barman, was shot and killed by unknown assailants after casting his vote. Both BJP and TMC claimed he was one of their workers, but family members said he was a belonged to BJP.[265] In Sitalkuchi, CISF personnel who were guarding a polling station in Jorepatki shot and killed four Muslim villagers, who they alleged were part of a mob attacking them. They claimed the mob attacked them over rumours the security forces had thrashed a local boy and they fired in self-defence. The families of the deceased claimed the firing was deliberate, and that they were in a queue to vote.[266][267] Media staff found video footage from local sources,[268] but Special Police Observer Vivek Dubey called it fake without citing any proper reason.[269]
On 8 April the ECI issued a notice to Adhikari for communal overtones in his 29 March speech inNandigram, where he derogatorily referredMamata Banerjee (who is unmarried) asbegum ("a married Muslim woman", thereby indicating that she was characterless).[270][271][272] In his reply to the ECI notice, Adhikari claimed that he never made any personal attack or derogatory remarks against any political leader, but on 13 April, the ECI issued another warning to him for making derogatory statements in his speech.[273]
On 12 April, the ECI imposed a 24-hour campaign ban on Mamata Banerjee (effective from 8 pm) for calling out female voters togherao (or encircle) the CRPF, CAPF and CISF forces on election duty if they "created any obstruction in their right to vote" from a political rally inCooch Behar district.[274] The next day, the TMC Supremo staged a solitarydharna next to the statue ofMahatma Gandhi at the Mayo Road crossing in Kolkata to protest against the ECI's decision.[275][276] On the same day, the ECI let Adhikari go with only a warning after he commented that voting in favour of Mamata Banerjee would convertWest Bengal into a "mini-Pakistan", which led the TMC to allege that the ECI was operating in a biased manner to benefit BJP.[277][278]
On 13 April, the ECI imposed a 48-hour campaign ban on former state BJP president Rahul Sinha for endorsing the killing of Muslims in the Sitalkuchi firing incident, and calling for more Muslims to be killed throughout the state in similar manner.[279]
On the night before the fifth phase, a picture of the BJP candidate forRanaghat having lunch with central forces spread on the internet.[280][281]
In the fifth phase of polling, in the Shantinagar locality ofBidhannagar, bricks and stones were hurled between TMC and BJP booth workers, leaving eight people injured.[282][283]
BJP candidate Gopal Chandra Saha was shot at while campaigning inMaldaha, and was admitted to a hospital.[284]
In Jalpaiguri, after polling ended, four BJP agents were found with central force personnel carrying electronic voting machines.[285]
On 24 April, Mamata Banerjee revealed details of the WhatsApp chat of an election observer employed by the ECI with BJP leaders, and said, "The Commission is instructing to arrest our party leaders before the [day of] election. I have WhatsApp chat of everything. Observers have spoken among themselves [about this]." She advised Anubrata Mandal, TMC'sBirbhum district president, to go to the courts if the commission wrongfully keeps him under surveillance.[286][287] The ECI put Mondal under "strict surveillance" for 62 hours from 5 pm on 27 April to 7 am on 30 April.[288])
On 29 April, during the eighth phase of voting, crude bombs were hurled nearMahajati Sadan in northern Kolkata.[289]
Results
The election results for 292 constituencies was announced on 2 May 2021 after counting of votes began at 8:00 am (UTC+5:30), while the results for 2 constituencies was delayed until 3 October.[290][291][292][293][294]
No Vote To BJP was a non-partisan, Anti-BJP political campaign inWest Bengal. The campaign motto wasWe requested to all peoples of theWest Bengal,vote for anyone in the election, but not vote for theBJP on the 2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election..[312][313][314][315][316]
On 18 January Mamata Banerjee announced at a rally in Nandigram that she would contest the upcoming assembly elections from Nandigram. Hours later, Suvendu Adhikari said he would defeat the CM by a margin of at least 50,000 votes or quit politics.[317][318]
On the eve of polling in Nandigram, the ECI ordered the transfer of the sub-divisional police officer of Haldia and the circle inspector of Mahishadal in Purba Medinipur district to non-election assignments[319] and imposed Section 144 in that constituency.[320] A day after the polling, stray clashes took place between workers of the TMC and the BJP in some parts of Nandigram.[321]
The votes were counted on 2 May. All eyes were set on the updates of high-voltage Nandigram constituency. 17 rounds of counting was to be done before declaring the winner. Mamata Banerjee was trailing in initial rounds. The EC informed that announcement of results for Nandigram would be delayed because of problem in server.[322] In the 16th round, when the counting of votes in Gokulnagar panchayat area started, Mamata fell behind.[323] After the 16th round, the counting of 17th round was delayed by an hour. Postal ballots were being counted at that time. At the end of the seventeenth round, it was announced that Mamata Banerjee had won by a margin of 1,200 (or 3,717) votes. Though later, it was declared that Suvendu had defeated (his) former party leader by approximately 1,956 votes.[307][1][308][309] Mamata banerjee continued to claim that she won Nandigram, Security was beefed up in the vicinity of the Haldia counting centre amid fears of unrest.
Mamata Banerjee alleged that the returning officer of Nandigram constituency was threatened and the two observers sitting inside the counting centre were very biased.[324][325][326]
The ECI wrote a letter to the West Bengal chief secretary and directed them to take all appropriate measures to keep a strict watch and regularly monitor the security provided to the returning officer in Nandigram.
Since Adhikari was declared winner, TMC workers protested outside the counting centre. Central Forces protected Adhikari's car while before it left the area. TMC workers alleged that the counting was stopped for three hours, the result was overturned after a power outage, and their agent was assaulted and thrown out from the counting centre by central forces.[327]
On 14 July, the High Court issued a notice to Adhikari, the ECI, the state electoral officer, and the returning officer with a direction to keep all election-related records intact until the case was heard on 12 August.[328][329] Adhikari went to the Supreme Court seeking transfer of Banerjee's election petition case outside the state.[330]
On 12 August, Adhikari's lawyers submitted before the court of Justice Sarkar that the legislator has approached the Supreme Court seeking transfer of the case from West Bengal. In keeping with the respondent's prayer, Justice Sarkar adjourned the hearing to 15 November.[331][332] On that date, Adhikari filed a petition in the Calcutta High Court seeking adjournment of the case. The High Court asked him to file a written statement explaining the reason for his no-confidence in the High Court by 29 November and it was decided that the next hearing would be held on 1 December.[333][334]
Opinion polls and exit polls predicted a tight race between the TMC and BJP, and that TMC would win around 150 seats, BJP 140, with the remaining for Morcha. TMC won over 200 seats, while BJP overall performed poorly.[335] Although it was the best ever performance of the state BJP in terms of both seats (before 2016, it never had more than 1 seat in the state Legislative assembly) & voteshare (at the height of theRam mandir agitation, BJP managed to win 11.34% of votes in the1991 election), it wasn't as phenomenal as it was in 2019.
BJP's vote share fell from 40% in the2019 elections to 38%. Reasons given were:
By fielding candidates who switched from TMC to BJP after the results of the2019 general elections or months before the elections began, the party leadership angered the party cadres at grassroots level who have been associated with the party since the2014 general elections and have been actively demanding that the party remove those same people from power,[336] resulting in the defeat of 142 TMC turncoats who had been fielded by BJP as candidates in this election.[337] The defeat of sitting TMC MLARabindranath Bhattacharjee, who had joined BJP on 8 March was significant because he lost inSingur, where people had started considering the2006 anti-land acquisition movement led by Mamata Banerjee to be a historic blunder[338] due to a lack of jobs in the region and had voted for BJP in the2019 elections in the hopes of industrialisation.[339][340][341] SimilarlyRajib Banerjee, who won theDomjur seat by receiving more than 100,000 votes in theprevious assembly election, lost by a margin of more than 42,000 votes because he was unable to consolidate the support of the local cadres from either TMC or BJP towards himself.[342]
Derogatory comments made towards Mamata Banerjee by BJP leaders, notably Modi taunting her by calling her out asDidi, O Didi from political rallies inHowrah andBarasat, Adhikari referring to her asBegum and Ghosh calling her out asharamjada ('harem-born child' inBangla[k])[343] & his derogatory comments on Mamata Banerjee's injury,[344] eight months aftera Dalit woman was gangraped and strangled to death by four upper-caste men in Uttar Pradesh and BJP leaders there openly supported of the perpetrators were not viewed positively by Bengali women, who saw the BJP leaders trying to import the culture ofmisogyny &toxic masculinity generally associated with theHindi belt.[345] A large number of Bengali women (constituting 49% of the electorate) did not vote for BJP in spite of electoral promises like making education of females in the state free of cost from kindergarten to post-graduate level.[346]
Attempts made by BJP leaders to convert the tribal population into Hinduism[l] were widely unpopular, especially in the tribal-dominatedMedinipur division[347] As a result, tribal votes were divided between BJP and TMC as TMC regained back the support of tribal communities in the Jhargram,Paschim Medinipur and Malda districts while BJP continued to retain its tribal votes inPurulia,Bankura,Jalpaiguri andAlipurduar.
Although theMatua community continued to vote in favour of BJP, they did not vote in unison as they did in the 2019 elections. Fears centering around theNational Register of Citizens,[354] frustration due to delay in implementation of the CAA, and Mamata Banerjee's attempts to regain back the support of the Matua community by allotting money for community-specific development ofNamasudras[355] and declaring the birthday ofHarichand Thakur, founder of the Matua movement, as a state government holiday led to the division of Matua votes between the BJP and TMC to some extent,[356] which affected the party inNadia andNorth 24 Parganas districts as BJP won 28Matua-dominated seats and TMC retained 21 Matua-dominated seats.
The TMC increased its vote share from 43% in2019 elections to 48% in the election. Reasons given were:
After the debacle in the 2019 elections, Mamata Banerjee ordered her party to return the "cut-money" (money collected by extorting and accepting bribes from common people, in order to "allow" them to access government facilities)[357] in an attempt to distance herself from corruption perpetrated by her cadres & maintain her clean image.
To tone down the allegations of Muslim appeasement made against her, Mamata Banerjee declared an allowance forHindu priests,[358] providing 50,000 INR to eachDurga Puja committee in the state,[359] emphasising on herBengali Brahmin background and recitingshlokas from theDevi Mahatmya in political rallies.[360]
TheDidi Ke Bolo campaign launched byPrashant Kishor helped the electorate directly communicate with Mamata Banerjee and was widely popular in the state.[361] The programs aimed to rebrand the public image of Mamata Banerjee from an arrogant pro-Muslim streetfighter prone to outbursts of anger to a down-to-earth leader who representsBengali cultural values on a national level.[362][363]
TMC countered BJP's campaign of polarisation on religious grounds based on aggressive propagation ofHindutva by labelling the BJP as a party of non-Bengalis who were importing an alien culture in the state in their attempts of achievingcultural homogenization under the name of Hindu unity and portraying Mamata Banerjee as the defendant of Bengali identity in the face of Hindutva through its official election slogan "Bangla nijer meyekei chay" (transl. "Bengal wants its own daughter")[367]
Mamata Banerjee's decision to contest the elections only from Nandigram instead of her home-turfBhabanipur (from where she had been elected MLA twice & MP forSouth Kolkata 7 times) motivated her party cadres demoralised by the rise of BJP in 2019 and the ensuing defection of many top TMC leaders, to dedicate themselves entirely in preventing the BJP from coming into power in the state.[368] Modi, Shah, and an entire hoard of high-profile leaders of national politics campaigned to remove Mamata Banerjee from power with the ECI acting biasedly in favour of the BJP[369] and that she was campaigning from a wheelchair, solidified Mamata Banerjee's image in public perception as a fighter who is unwilling to give up without a fight.[345] The TMC utilised this indomitable fighter spirit of her through its unofficial election anthem[370] "Khela Hobe" (transl. "The game is on"), which was later gave rise to the slogan "Bhanga Paye Khela Hobe" (transl. "The game will be played even with a fractured leg").[371]
Welfare schemes implemented by Mamata Banerjee likeKanyashree were already popular among the masses. They were combined by other populist schemes in the list of electoral promises, most notablyLakshmir Bhandar (basic income support for unemployed women).[372]
BJP's endorsement of the killing of Muslims in the Sitalkuchi firing incident left theBengali Muslim community of the state (who constitute 30% of the electorate) fearful for their existence and security in the scenario of a BJP-ruled West Bengal, and they voted unitedly for the TMC in the election, especially in the Muslim-majorityMalda division, where the Muslim votes until then was traditionally divided between the INC & CPI(M).[345]
The combined vote share of INC and Left Front fell from 11% in the 2019 general elections to 8% in this elections. Reasons given were:
Confusion regarding the party's policy was an important factor. Central INC leaders likeRahul Gandhi refrained from campaigning against Mamata Banerjee as the party enjoyed cooperation with the TMC at a national level, but at the state level PCC chiefAdhir Ranjan Chowdhury refused to cooperate with TMC, and INC leaders found it difficult to justify their alliance with the Left Front in West Bengal while opposing theLeft Front in Kerala at thesame time.[373] The Left Front was divided over whether to consider BJP to be a greater threat than the TMC, and decided to focus more on opposing TMC than the BJP.[374] This strategy backfired on the Left Front as the TMC portrayed itself as the party that could withstand BJP in the state, and the Left Front was viewed as a "vote-cutter"[375] that divided the anti-BJP votes to BJP's advantage. A group of voters who had voted for the Left Front in the 2019 general elections, under influence of the non-partisanNo Vote to BJP campaign[376][377][315][313][314][316] voted for the TMC to prevent BJP from coming into power.
To attract the anti-TMC and anti-BJP votes towards itself, theSanyukta Morcha tried to portray BJP and TMC to be the same on the grounds that both parties harboured corrupt leaders and engaged in identity politics. The INC's official election slogan was "Aar kono bhul na, aar kono phul na" ("No More Mistakes, No More Flowers", referring to the election symbols of BJP and TMC). The Left Front also criticised both the parties in social media under the termBijemool (portmanteau of the wordsBJP andTrinamool). This didn't catch on with the electorate, who saw BJP as a Hinduright-wing party and TMC as acenter-left party.[378]
In spite of fieldingHindu candidates in the seats it had been allotted, public perception about ISF remained to be of a party by and for Muslims led by a hardliner cleric,Abbas Siddiqui, who had compared actress and TMC MPNusrat Jahan to a prostitute in one of his apoliticaljalsas in the past,[379] and the alliance between them andPeerzada ofFurfura Sharif was met with unease within the INC.[380] The alliance with ISF wasn't appreciated by the Left Front workers at the grassroots level, who saw it as a violation of theCommunist viewpoint of religion being theopium of the masses.
The inability of aged leaders at the top of Left Front to adapt to changed conditions in state politics & lack of youth representation in the top decision-making bodies has also been cited as a reason.[381]
In spite of mobilising huge amounts of crowds in the first rally of the Sanyukta Morcha at the Brigade Parade grounds before the elections began,[382] ISF failed to divide the Muslim votes between itself and TMC inPresidency division andBurdwan division as expected from it[379] in the aftermath of the Sitalkuchi shooting incident. The victory ISF's lone winning candidate (Abbas's brother Nowshad Siddiqui) inBhangar has been credited toArabul Islam's dissatisfaction for not being fielded as the candidate and the resulting non-cooperation with the district TMC leadership.[383]
Veteran BJP leaderTathagata Roy lashed out at the party leadership onTwitter for viewing the ground conditions in the state through what he called KDSA (i.e.Kailash Vijayvargiya, Dilip Ghosh, Shiv Prakash and Arvind Menon)[384] and questioned the party's decision to fieldNogorer notis (transl. "City prostitutes"), referring to actressesPayel Sarkar,Tanushree Chakraborty andSrabanti Chatterjee, who were seen in a boat ride with TMC leaderMadan Mitra in the past.[385] He also specifically blamed Dilip Ghosh's many controversial remarks, most notably his misogynistic comments againstGoddess Durga, the most widely revered Hindu deity inBengali Hindu society in his attempt to glorifyLord Rama, the most widely revered Hindu deity in North Indian Hindu society[m] & the ideological poster-boy of the RSS-BJP alongsideHanuman since the days of theRam-mandir movement to justify the 'holier-than-thou' attitude of the Bengali Hindu supporters of BJP over the Bengali Hindus who don't support the BJP at a media conclave while campaigning for the elections, to be responsible for the party's poor performance. HisNogorer Noti remark drew widespread criticism online.
The average winning margin of all the candidates in this election stood at 26,964 votes, while the same for AITC candidates was 31,760 votes.[386] This loss was stated by the media to be Modi's personal failure.[387]
In view of the popular slogan "Khela Hobe", Mamata Banerjee declared that her party would observe 16 August asKhela Hobe Divas, which the BJP tried to link withDirect Action Day.[388] She also launched a government scheme named "Khela Hobe" which granted 5,00,000 INR and free footballs among 25,000 sporting clubs in the state to promote sports in economically poorer sections of society.[389]
Countering Shah's claim that BJP would come to power in West Bengal by winning around 200 or more seats out of the 294 seats in the state legislative assembly,[390][391] Kishor publicly declared that he would resign from his job if BJP managed to win more than a 100 seats in this elections.[392] Although he delivered his promise, Kishor declared his retirement from on being an election strategist on 2 May, citing personal reasons.[393][394][395]
Allegations of partial Election Commission
Election strategistPrashant Kishor who helped TMC in the elections, accused the Election Commission of being partial and helping the BJP saying, "I have never seen a more partial Election Commission... It did everything to help the BJP... From allowing the use of religion to scheduling the poll and bending the rules, the ECI did everything to help the BJP."[396]
Indian Home Minister and BJP memberAmit Shah said that more than 300 BJP members were killed due to the political violence as of December 2020 and that "investigation in those cases hasn't moved an inch".
After results were announced,post-poll violence broke out in some areas of the state. In reality it was continuation of the violence which took place across the state during the election.[397][398] In recent times, the first occurrence of post-poll violence in the state was recorded in 2019 when BJP members targeted TMC staff and forcibly occupied or vandalised local TMC offices, mainly at the behest of the newly electedBarrackpore MPArjun Singh.[399][400]
On May 2, the results had just started showing signs of Trinamool returning to power when the men arrived, going house to house, ransacking them, breaking some. By the end of the day, 40 families of a colony located on KPC Medical College grounds in Jadavpur had fled. All BJP supporters or workers say TMC threats had kept them away for two-and-a-half months .[401]
Government formation
Mamata Banerjee took an oath as the Chief Minister of West Bengal for the third time on 5 May 2021 at the Raj Bhawan in Kolkata.[402] She expanded the cabinet on 10 May 2021 when 43 TMC leaders were sworn in as ministers.[403] 17 new people were in theThird Banerjee ministry.[404][405]
Vacant seats
TMC candidate Kajal Sinha fromKhardaha died fromCOVID-19 after polling but before the results of the state assembly elections were announced, in which he emerged victorious.[406] The ECI deferred the elections to two assembly seats in West Bengal in view of theCOVID-19 pandemic. The polling had been rescheduled earlier to 16 May 2021 due to the death of two contestants from theSamserganj andJangipur constituencies.[407] Mocking this decision, the TMC said "The Election Commission, though late, finally woke up. But when demands were made repeatedly to arrange the election in one day by combining 2–3 phases, then they remained silent."[408] Two BJP MLAs –Nisith Pramanik fromDinhata andJaganath Sarkar fromShantipur constituencies – resigned after the election results, as they were sitting MPs fromCooch Behar andRanaghat, respectively, and wanted to continue as MPs.[409]Jayanta Naskar, TMC MLA ofGosaba, died from COVID-19 on 19 June after testing negative for the disease.[410][411][412]
Incumbent Cabinet ministers from the state,Babul Supriyo fromAsansol andDebasree Chaudhuri fromRaiganj, resigned from their positions due to their failure in rallying the voters from their respective constituencies to vote for BJP.[416] After the Cabinet reshuffle, Supriyo stated that he was quitting politics and his position as an MP, but after meeting the leaders of BJP, he decided to retain his position as an MP. He later joined TMC, stating that he wanted to remain in politics but his political participation was being restricted by BJP due to his defeat fromTollyganj and the party's poor performance in Asanol.[417]
Abhishek Banerjee was promoted from the president of state TMC's youth wing to all-India general secretary.[418]
Long time RSS activist andBalurghat MPSukanta Majumdar succeeded Dilip Ghosh as the president of the state BJP unit, while Ghosh was made one of the national vice-presidents of the party.[419]
East Bardhaman MPSunil Mondal, who had earlier defected from TMC to BJP alongside Adhikari in 2020,[22] declared in August that he was "always with the TMC".[423]
The ECI deferred the elections in Samserganj and Jangipur constituencies due to the death of two candidates.[77]
AITC MLASovandeb Chattopadhyay from Bhabanipur resigned after the election to allow Mamata Banerjee to contest a by-election in the constituency.[440]
In the beginning of September, the ECI announced that general elections for Jangipur and Samserganj assembly seats and by-election for Bhabanipur seat would be held on 30 September and votes would be counted on 3 October. The time limit for filing nominations was set from 6 September until 13 September for Bhabanipur only.[80][4][441] Mamata Banerjee filed hers on 10 September.[442][443] A total of 12 candidates contested in Bhabanipur by-poll.[444][445] Kishor enrolled himself as a voter from Bhabanipur, but he did not cast his vote.[446][447]
A total of 52 central forces companies were deployed to the three poll-bound Assembly constituencies' booths.[448][449][450][451] Section 144 was enforced in Bhabanipur on 28 September.[452][453] On the eve of polling, the Commission deployed an additional 20 companies of central forces in Bhabanipur.[454][455][456]
On 28 September, the ECI announced that remaining by-polls would be held on 30 October and votes counted on 2 November.[457][458]
On 30 September the first report of violence came from Samserganj, and Congress candidate Jaidur Rahaman was accused of carrying out a bombing in this constituency.[459] TMC activists raised "go back" slogans surrounding him while he inspected booths on polling day. Central forces were accused of kicking TMC leader Habibur Rahman, the outgoing councilor of Ward 20 of Dhulian Municipality under Samserganj Assembly.[460][461] Priyanka Tibrewal, BJP candidate of Bhabanipur, was accused of violating theECI's model code of conduct by travelling across the area with many cars and people at once.[462][463] After she claimed to have caught fake voters, Firhad Hakim pointed out that as a candidate she had no right to check their identities.[464] BJP leader Kalyan Chaubey's car was allegedly vandalised in Bhabanipur and BJP blamed TMC for the act.[465] Police released CCTV footage of the incident, claiming it had nothing to do with politics.[466][467] BJP claimed that Chaubey was their candidate'selection agent but according to Commission sources, he was the agent of aHindustani Awam Morcha candidate. The vehicle he used to get to the polling constituency was not registered by the EC. BJP lodged a total of 23 complaints against TMC over the voting process in Bhabanipur, but the ECI dismissed all of them.[468] A total of 697,164 voters were eligible to cast their votes in the three constituencies.[298][299][203][204] The voter turnout for Samserganj, Jangipur, and Bhabanipur was recorded at 79.92%, 77.63%, and 57.09% respectively.[469][470]
Results were announced on 3 October, with TMC winning the three seats.[471] Mamata Banerjee won the Bhabanipur Assembly seat by a margin of 58,835 votes over the BJP candidate.[2][472][473] TMC led in all wards of Bhabanipur, including wards 70 and 74, where BJP led in the last assembly polls.[474] On the same day, TMC officially announced a list of candidates for upcoming assembly by-elections to four seats.[475]
The Model Code of Conduct was imposed in Nadia, Cooch Behar, Khardaha, and Gosaba.[476] The ECI initially deployed 27 companies of central forces for the remaining by-elections.[477][478] A week before the by-elections, an additional 53 companies entered the state.[479] Later, the ECI decided to deploy a total of 92 CAPF companies.[480]
On the last day of the Dinhata by-election campaign, Dilip Ghosh and Sukanta Majumdar met thedeputy inspector general of police, Shailendra Kumar Singh, at theBorder Security Force sector headquarters of Sonari in Cooch Behar. This was controversial because the Chief Minister could not even hold administrative meetings with Cooch Behar district officials, as the model code of conduct was in effect. Reacting to this, Hakim said "Recently, the Ministry of Home Affairs has increased the jurisdiction of BSF to 50 km.[481][482][483] Taking advantage of this, the BJP leaders went to pull the BSF chief over to their side." TMC lodged a complaint with the ECI.[484][485] A TMC deputy went to thedistrict magistrate's chamber and complained that the BSF-BJP meeting had violated the model code of conduct.[486]
On polling day, central forces were accused of intimidating voters at booth 296 in Dinhata and some other booths in Kharadaha and Gosaba.[487][488] In Kharadha, the central forces prevented TMC candidate Sovandeb Chattopadhyay from entering a booth, who alleged that they unfairly demanded to seedouble vaccination certificates from voters. The problem was resolved after informing the matter to the presiding officer.[489][490] During the election campaign, Joy Saha, BJP candidate of Khardaha, used a picture of the deceased TMC leader Kajal Sinha in his campaign.[491] On election day, he claimed to have caught two fake voters red-handed, which was proven false. When he claimed to have caught a fake voter and BJP supporters started harassing the man, a fight broke out between the TMC and the BJP over the incident.[492] Joy Saha's personal security guardsbaton charged TMC activists, injuring the Sinha's son in the process.[493][494] Gosaba registered highest voter turnout among four constituencies.[495][496]
The results of the four constituencies was announced on 2 November, with TMC winning all seats.[497] TMC's Sovandeb Chattopadhyay and Subrata Mondal won Khardaha[498] and Gosaba,[499] respectively, by huge margins.Udayan Guha, who lost the Dinhata seat by a margin of 57 votes during the assembly election, won the seat in the bypolls by a margin of 164,089 votes.[500] TMC also won theSantipur seat, where Braja Kishor Goswami[501] was the TMC candidate, from the BJP by a considerable margin of votes.[502]
^Apart from these, an announcement about two new municipalities was made in October 2021.[27][28]Bally Municipality was re-established on 12 November 2021.[29][30]
^abcFor candidates only sponsored by the Indian National Congress in Samserganj[82] and Revolutionary Socialist Party in Jangipur.[83]
^Marxist Forward Bloc contested the election on the "Hammer Sickle and Star" symbol and name of national political partyCommunist Party of India (Marxist) (CPIM).
^Indian Secular Front is an unregistered political party and it contested the election on the "Envelope" symbol and name ofBihar-based political partyRashtriya Secular Majlis Party (RSMP).[113][102]
^This survey was larger than any other opinion poll conducted by other agencies, on the basis of sample size, which for this survey was 147,000.
^Apart from these, there were 128 overseas electors. Among them, 2 electors exercised their franchise.[111]
^abElection postponed due to candidate's death before the scheduled date of poll
^Unlike in the Middle East, 'harem' in theIndian subcontinent referred to the inner apartments of a Muslim household exclusively reserved for concubines, while the same for legitimately-wedded wives is called aszenana
^According to the definition of aHindu, as espoused by Hindutva ideologueVinayak Damodar Savarkar, the BJP regards theAdivasi people as part of the Hindu society, & theRSS has always tried to make the Adivasis abandon their indigenousfolk religion in favour of mainstream Hinduism in order to facilitate their integration into Hindu society, however certain Adivasi groups have resisted these attempts & have demandedtheir religion to be recognised as a separate religion
^Chattopadhyay, Suhrid Sankar (6 July 2020)."Amphan: Relief as disaster".Frontline.Archived from the original on 27 September 2020. Retrieved30 September 2020.
^"Form 20 – 56 Samserganj AC"(PDF).Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal.Archived(PDF) from the original on 12 November 2021. Retrieved13 November 2021.
^"Form 20 – 58 Jangipur AC"(PDF).Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal.Archived(PDF) from the original on 12 November 2021. Retrieved13 November 2021.
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