West Bengal: TMC Fields Former BJP Member Biswajit Das From Bongaon (image-X/BiswajitMLA)

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has nominated former BJP member Biswajit Das from the Lok Sabha constituency of Bongaon. The three-time MLA was elected twice in 2011 and 2016 from the Bongaon Uttar (North) Assembly seat under the TMC banner. However, he defected to the BJP in June 2019 and won the Bagda seat with a margin of 9,792 votes, defeating TMC’s Paritosh Kumar Saha.

Claiming to have joined the BJP over a misunderstanding, the Bongaon candidate stated that consistent infighting and differences of opinion in the BJP unit of West Bengal prompted him to leave the saffron party and return to TMC. He described state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as one of the tallest leaders in the country. Mr. Das was among several TMC leaders who decided to quit the BJP and join the TMC.

Addressing the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the Bongaon candidate said that the party will establish that the CAA is a “trap” to deny all rights of the Matua community.

Since 2009, the TMC has held a stronghold over the Lok Sabha seat. Gobinda Naskar secured 5.4 lakh votes in the 2009 elections, and then Kapil Krishna Thakur secured victory with 5.5 lakh votes.

After Thakur’s death, TMC’s Mamata Thakur won the by-elections of 2015 with 5.3 lakh votes. However, the TMC streak came to an end with the victory of the BJP”s Shantanu Thakur, who secured 6.8 lakh votes, beating Mamata Thakur, who only got 5.7 lakh votes.

Bongaon constituency in the North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal comprises Vidhan Sabhas including Kalyani Haringhata, Bagda, Bongaon Uttar (North), Bongaon Dakshin (South), Gaighata, and Swarupnagar. Out of the eight SC reserved segments, seven are under the BJP flag. Only Swarupnagar is under the hold of TMC.

The Lok Sabha seat has a population of 42.7 percent SC voters, 2.8 percent ST voters, and 16.2 percent Muslim voters, according to the 2011 census.