Little effect of R G Kar case on campaign as Bengal braces for bypolls; TMC, BJP contesting on all 6 seats

The polling for bypolls will happen for Naihati, Haroa, Medinipur, Taldangra, Sitai and Madarihat seats out of which BJP had won the last seat while TMC won the other five.

Kolkata: Though outrage over the rape and murder of a young doctor swept the state for several weeks in August and subsequently, the issue rarely came to the fore during the campaign for the bye-election in Bengal's six assembly constituencies, apparently giving the ruling Trinamool Congress some reprieve and an edge over its primary challenger the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Though they played a key role in mobilising the protests against the rape and murder of the young doctor at the R G Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, the leftist parties seemed to have remained a marginal player during the campaign in the bye-elections. So did the Congress.

The polling for the bye-elections in the six assembly constituencies – Naihati, Haroa, Medinipur, Taldangra, Sitai and Madarihat – will go to polls on Wednesday. The TMC had won five of the six assembly constituencies in 2021, while the BJP had won one.

The bye-election was necessitated due to the resignation of the legislators, who had contested and won the parliamentary elections held earlier this year.

“Our government is working for the people of West Bengal round the clock. So please vote for the TMC candidates in the six constituencies so that the march of development could continue,” Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said hours before the campaigning for the bye-election ended. The party top brass exuded confidence that they will emerge victorious in the polls.

The TMC and the BJP are contesting for all the six seats.

“We will surely retain Madarihat. And, in case the polling takes place peacefully and fairly, we will win at least three of the six seats,” Sukanta Majumdar, the union minister and president of the state BJP, said.

The BJP leaders did raise the issue of the rape and murder of the young doctor during campaigning. But they focussed more on the allegations of corruption by the Trinamool Congress government and other local issues. The TMC leaders said that the chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation against the prime accused, who had been arrested by the Kolkata Police a day after the doctor had been found raped and murder, had already proved that the city cops had been on the right track.

The Congress has not tied up with the Left Front for the bye-elections, unlike the 2021 assembly elections and the 2024 parliamentary elections. The Left Front in West Bengal hitherto comprised Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Forward Bloc and Revolutionary Socialist Party. But it also extended support to the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) candidate in one of the constituencies, where polling for the bye-election would be held on Wednesday.

The CPI, CPI (M), FB and RSP fielded candidates in four other constituencies. The Left Front is also supporting the Indian Secular Front in one of the constituencies.

The Congress is contesting for all the six seats.

Neither the Congress, nor the Left Front have any legislator in the West Bengal assembly.