Bengal panchayat polls: BJP fights to retain main opposition space amid Congress-Left resurgence

Panchayati raj institutions govern nearly 65% of the state's population at the grassroots level.

The forthcoming panchayat elections in West Bengal are shaping up as a test for the BJP, which is seeking to retain its position as the main opposition in the state as the CPI(M) and Congress revive to be its challengers.

State BJP leaders said even though the saffron party is much better placed to take on the ruling Trinamool Congress in terms of organisation than it was five years ago, the revival of the Congress-CPI(M) alliance has led to a dip in the right-wing party's share in the opposition vote, which was pocketed entirely by it till the 2021 assembly polls.

The rural polls to the panchayati raj institutions that govern nearly 65 per cent of the state's population at the grassroots level will also provide an opportunity for the BJP to assess its booth-level organisational preparedness ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, for which Union Home Minister Amit Shah has set an ambitious target of winning 35 of the 42 parliamentary seats in the eastern state.

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"Although we are organisationally in a much better position than we were in 2018, it is also true that this time we are not the only ones fighting the TMC, unlike in the last panchayat polls. The CPI(M)-Congress alliance, as per the last few local polls and by-elections, have regained much lost ground," BJP national secretary Anupam Hazra told PTI.

The senior BJP leader, who has been vocal about infighting in the party's state unit, said, "The rural polls this time is also about assessing our booth-level organisation and retaining our position as the primary opposition in the state."

The state's three-tier panchayat elections are scheduled to take place on July 8. An electorate of approximately 5.67 crore will exercise their franchise to choose representatives for nearly 74,000 seats in Zilla Parishads, Panchayat Samitis and Gram Panchayats on that date.

BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said despite the "terror tactics" of the TMC, he was confident that the saffron party will perform well in the upcoming panchayat polls.

"Although the panchayat poll results may not reflect a clear picture on the ground due to the state administration's influence, it will be a warm-up match for us to galvanise our party workers and reach out to the masses ahead of the 2024 elections," he said.

In the rural polls held five years ago, the TMC won 90 per cent of the panchayat seats and captured all the 22 Zilla Parishads. However, the elections were marred by widespread violence and malpractices, with the opposition alleging that they were prevented from filing nominations in several seats across the state.

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The BJP, despite the violence, had won nearly 8,000 panchayat seats, which led to Shah, the then BJP national president, setting an ambitious target of winning 23 Lok Sabha seats in 2019. The BJP managed to win 18 seats, up from two in 2014.

However, after its defeat in the 2021 assembly polls, the BJP is still licking its wounds as infighting, exodus, and electoral setbacks have kept the state leadership busy.

The slide began with the Bhabanipur by-election where its vote share slid to 22 per cent from 35 per cent and continued unabated in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) polls, where it managed to get just 20 per cent of the vote share, down from 29 per cent which it had managed in the state assembly elections in the same areas.

It was followed by poor performance in last year’s civic polls in 108 municipalities and the Asansol Lok Sabha bypoll, where it lost a seat it had won twice before to TMC by a record margin.

The Sagardighi bypoll this year saw a huge swing of 28 per cent votes in favour of the Congress from the saffron camp and the TMC's kitty. The BJP's vote share also sharply declined from 24 per cent to 13.94 per cent during the corresponding period.

Rubbing salt on the BJP's wounds, the CPI(M) emerged as the first runner-up in the Ballygunge assembly bypoll last year, and the Congress-Left alliance snatched the minority-dominated Sagardighi seat from the TMC and pushed the BJP to the distant third position in March this year.

"In minority-dominated areas, the Congress-Left alliance has been able to dent the TMC's vote bank and pick up the opposition votes," Hazra said.

BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh told PTI, "We are confident of winning a few Zilla Parishads and many panchayat seats. If the TMC tries to loot the mandate or stop our candidates from filing nominations, they will get a befitting reply."

Senior CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty said that the saffron party was in a tight corner as "people have now realised that the TMC and the BJP are two sides of the same coin, and hence, those opposed to the TMC's misrule will be voting for the Left and Congress".

Political analyst Maidul Islam said that for the BJP, the rural polls are a fight to retain its main opposition space.

"The revival of the Left and the Congress threatens the BJP's position as the main opposition in West Bengal. The BJP's main focus should be on protecting it. However, this trend will also split opposition votes and help the ruling TMC," he added.