By Sagarneel Sinha
Political temperatures have started to rise again in West Bengal due to the upcoming by-polls in Nandigram and Rejinagar assembly constituencies. The elections are due on October 6, and counting will be on October 9. Nandigram seat fell vacant following Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari’s resignation, as he chose to retain the high-prestige Bhabanipur seat, where he defeated then chief minister Mamata Banerjee. The Rejinagar seat fell vacant following Humayun Kabir’s resignation, as he chose to retain the Naoda seat.
Since the declaration of assembly polls results on May 4, the political landscape of the eastern state has undergone a significant shift, following BJP’s ascent to power for the first time by ending 15 years of Trinamool Congress rule led by Mamata Banerjee. While Mamata-led TMC still secured 80 seats in the state elections, enough to check the ruling BJP, it soon got into internal trouble leading to the majority of the MLAs breaking away and claiming it as the real TMC, led by Uluberia Purba MLA Ritabrata Banerjee, who is now recognised as the leader of the Opposition in the state assembly.
While the Election Commission of India is yet to decide which faction represents the real TMC, it has taken a temporary decision by freezing the party’s “twin flowers and grass” symbol, and barred any group from using the “All India Trinamool Congress” name. This was done to allow both the groups to contest the by-polls. It accepted Mamata’s faction as Mamata All India Trinamool Congress (MAITC), while Ritabrata’s faction as Democratic Trinamool Congress (DTC). ECI allotted “footballer” as an election symbol to MAITC, while it gave “envelope” to DTC.
The DTC has nominated candidates for both the seats. It gave the ticket to Ehtesamul Haque for the Nandigram seat, while nominating Safiuzzaman for Rejinagar. MAITC initially gave candidates for both the seats, but its candidate Sanchita Pradhan Dey withdrew her nomination from the Nandigram seat, allegedly after meeting CM Suvendu Adhikari. This incident led to a new political equation with Mamata Banerjee announcing her support to Congress in Nandigram. Though she herself maintained that the decision to support Congress in Nandigram was taken even before their candidate’s withdrawal. Importantly, this decision came after Congress rejected Mamata’s offer to contest Nandigram, while leaving Rejinagar for her party.
Mamata Banerjee’s hesitation over her party contesting Nandigram suggested that she may have little hope for the seat, which once symbolised her struggle against the erstwhile ruling alliance, Left Front, led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M). This is because post May 4, the TMC organisation has broken apart. Amid this, MAITC’s worry increases as it has the challenge to familiarise its new election symbol to the voters. In fact, reports suggest that within MAITC there was confusion regarding contesting by-polls, although party leaders have denied this. The dilemma came into the open when party’s Rejinagar candidate Rabiul Alam, a former MLA, announced his withdrawal from the contest, but retracted later after Mamata intervened.
Surely, the main Opposition TMC has weakened severely, following the split. This situation has opened up the Opposition space, with the Congress and Left vying to occupy the space. The grand old party, after rejecting Mamata’s alliance offer, is contesting both seats. In Nandigram, it has already got a political boost after its candidate Milan Pradhan was arrested over a 19-year-old case, and importantly, this arrest came after Mamata announcing her support. This action by the state government raises eyebrows. Clearly, the Congress’s allegations of intimidating the opposition can’t be brushed aside. In a sigh of relief, the Calcutta High Court has allowed the candidate to contest polls after Congress knocked the doors of the judiciary. Politically, this arrest suggests BJP’s strategy to prevent the consolidation of anti-BJP votes in the favour of the Left. In Rejinagar, it has trusted Mohammad Abdullahil Kafir. By upping the ante against the BJP, thanks to the un-democratic actions of Suvendu government, Congress is hopeful of getting back its base it had lost to TMC in the last decades in Nandigram as well as Rejinagar.
On the other hand, the CPM-led Left Front is not leaving behind any stone unturned to emerge as the main Opposition party. In the Falta repoll, held after May 4, it had emerged as the main Opposition party. It is trying to retain this position. As a result, the Left Front hasn’t allied with the Indian Secular Front (ISF) of MLA Naushad Siddiqui in Nandigram. Its constituent, Communist Party of India (CPI), is contesting the seat. CPI has nominated Shanti Gopal Giri. In the last assembly polls, CPM gave the seat to ISF whose candidate polled 0.75% while CPI’s Giri contesting alone got 1.19% votes. Post May 4, the Left Front’s aim is to emerge as the main challenger against the BJP. In Rejinagar, CPM has nominated Syed Asad Ali, and has been campaigning in the seat. Party’s prominent youth face Minakshi Mukherjee and party’s state secretary Mohammad Salim has joined the election campaign for Ali. CPM is continuing with its political line by criticising ruling BJP as well as the TMC, including both the factions. The Left is in no mood to offer any support to Mamata on the symbol case, unlike the Congress, which has supported her on the symbol issue.
Interestingly, Humayun Kabir, who won the seat last time, has withdrawn from the physical campaign and has said that his party will only campaign through social media. His party has nominated his son Golam Nabi Azad from the seat. Interestingly, his own party leader Saiful Islam, party’s Naoda block president, is also contesting elections as an independent candidate. And Humayun Kabir hasn’t taken any decision against him, and this development also raises question. On the other hand, DTC, which is suspiciously absent from Nandigram’s campaign, is seen in Rejinagar, with its candidate Safiuzzaman busy in election campaigning. Notably, he is joined by National Citizens Party of India (NCPI) MP Abu Taher Khan, who is also now the party’s vice-president. NCPI is a constituent of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), and has declared its support for the two BJP candidates — Hasirani Rath in Nandigram and Shankharav Sarkar in Rejinagar. While Khan has defended by saying that Safiuzzaman is his nephew, this gives weight to MAITC’s allegations of DTC being in BJP’s pocket. These developments suggest that DTC as well as Humayun are acting as vote-cutters to help the BJP secure this Muslim-dominated seat.
However, the by-polls have once again brought to the fore the democratic concerns that were frequently raised during Mamata Banerjee’s rule. The arrest of Congress’s Nandigram is clearly a strategy of the ruling BJP to create fear among the voters. This arrest also undermines the principle of free and fair polls, though the positive thing is that the High Court has intervened. Apart from this, the ECI’s decisions regarding changes to the symbols of ISF, AJUP, and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) raise questions over the credibility of the free and fair polls. Since its first election in 2021, ISF, which is a Recognised Unregistered Political Party (RUPP), has been contesting on the “envelope” symbol — now this symbol is granted to the DTC. Instead, ISF is allotted the “almirah”. The voters identify ISF with the “envelope” symbol. This decision amounts to confusing the voters — such things aren’t expected from an impartial ECI. Even the Calcutta High Court has also come down heavily on the ECI for allotting “envelope” to DTC when already ISF is contesting both the seats. The ECI has also changed AJUP’s “whistle” symbol and allotted “table” to it. Last election, AJUP won two seats contesting on the “whistle” symbol. On the other hand, the dissatisfied constituent of Left Front, RSP, which earlier decided to contest Rejinagar outside the Front’s banner, now has opted out of the contest following the ECI’s decision not to allot its traditional “spade and stoker” symbol. It has been allotted the “bucket” symbol only after the end of the scrutiny process. RSP has accused the ECI of bias. Nevertheless, RSP candidate Bikash Chandra Mishra’s name will remain on the EVM as the deadline for withdrawal of nominations has already passed. The RSP incident also raises questions on ECI’s impartiality. (IPA Service)
