With an eye on the 2026 Bengal polls, TMC and BJP are set to regain lost ground during the festive season

With their sights set on the 2026 West Bengal assembly elections, the ruling Trinamool Congress and its main electoral rival, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), are using the October-November festive season to regain lost ground.

PREMIUM

“Bijoya sammilanis This has been done before, but the management wanted it to be organized more widely this year so that our workers can reach out to citizens in all the 42 Lok Sabha constituencies and 294 legislative assemblies of Bengal. This has been done primarily in view of the fall in TMC vote share in several district towns, both small and large, as well as in Kolkata areas in the Lok Sabha elections held earlier this year,” a senior TMC functionary said on Tuesday, asking not to be unfounded.

The TMC won 29 Lok Sabha seats this year, while the BJP lost significant ground, slipping from its record tally of 18 in 2019 to just 12. The Congress, which won only two seats in 2019, lost an apparently unassailable constituency Berhampur district of former state president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. Also.

Despite this success, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the TMC chairperson, did not contain her feelings on Monday while inaugurating a pandal in her Bhawanipore constituency in Kolkata ahead of Kali Puja on October 31, which is widely celebrated across the state.

“I am grateful that you supported me, but I was studying the Lok Sabha results on the stands here. I saw that for every 900 votes in the booth, we only got one. Why should this happen? This is spoiling the cordial relationship we share,” Banerjee told a crowd at a pandal in Shakespeare Sarani, a posh, cosmopolitan area with a significant number of business establishments.

“Many of you live in high-rise apartments. If you live in Bengal and do business in Bengal then you must love Bengal. Consider Bengal your home. Some people share the ballot box between Bengalis and non-Bengalis. Please, do not do that. do it,” Banerjee added, without naming any rival party.

TMC leaders said that out of Kolkata’s 144 municipal constituencies, the BJP was ahead of the ruling party in 47 constituencies. Of these, 44 were won by the TMC in the 2021 polls. In terms of constituencies, the TMC lost two in the Lok Sabha polls in the Kolkata region. The BJP won only 75 seats in the Bengal assembly in 2021, while the TMC won 215 seats.

“An analysis of Lok Sabha results at the level of other major municipal corporations such as Durgapur and Asansol in West Burdwan district, Siliguri in north Bengal and Salt Lake on the eastern outskirts of Kolkata showed that the BJP is ahead of the TMC in many regions, although we managed win Lok Sabha districts,” said the TMC minister, who also asked not to be named.

“While this trend has been seen in several elections since 2011 when we ousted the Left Front, Didi (Banerjee) has taken the recent results seriously in view of the 2026 state polls,” he added.

The TMC comes amid massive protests in urban areas over the rape and murder of a junior doctor on August 9 at R.G. Medical College and Hospital. Kar in Kolkata. Bijaya sammilanis These are not just political developments, party leaders said.

“While TMC district leaders, MLAs and even MPs address party supporters at these events, mainly to spread the leadership’s message, we invite local residents and even BJP leaders. The idea is to enhance social harmony,” an event organizer from Hooghly district. said.

Bijaya sammilanis are held without interruption, and their number increases every day. While only eight protests were organized on October 17, the number reached 86 on October 20 when the TMC announced its six candidates for the November 13 assembly by-elections and peaked at 144 on October 27 when activities in the saffron camp picked up pace.

During a one-day visit to Bengal on October 27, Union Home Minister Amit Shah directed state BJP leaders to increase the number of party members in the state to 10 million so that the TMC can be defeated in 2026.

The Bengal BJP registered 10 million members during its last six-year campaign in 2018, but the number has fallen as many left the party and some died, state leaders said.

The fight for membership should be the main goal of the state unit of the BJP, Shah said. “Our biggest goal now is to have a BJP government in Bengal in 2026. I say we will pass the 10 million mark. In other states, this endeavor means strengthening our organization, but in Bengal, it is a mission to end the rampant infiltration of corruption, cattle smuggling and abuse of women,” Shah said while launching a membership drive.

Unlike the previous campaign, in which anyone could become a member of the BJP by simply dialing a number, the current one requires the applicant to compulsorily fill an electronic form sent to his mobile phone.

BJP national general secretary Sunil Bansal, in charge of the Bengal unit, announced at the launch that any core member of the party who successfully registers 100 more people will be considered an active member and eligible for the portfolio.

Bengal BJP chief spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said Shah focused solely on the membership fight during his interactions with state leaders. “We will achieve our goal. Bijaya Sammilani This is an old Bengali tradition of immersing the idol of Goddess Durga in water. TMC is following it with such enthusiasm because it knows its implementation is imminent,” Bhattacharya said.

“If you study the 2024 Lok Sabha poll results, you will see that more than 50% of the majority community voters in the state supported us. They make up about 70% of the population and overall we received 38% of the votes,” he added.