Most TMC Defectors Face Defeat After Joining BJP; Check Candidates Who Lost After Switching Sides

Aside from few defectors like Suvendu Adhikari who took the Nandigram seat by defeating Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee by a narrow margin.

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Kolkata: For most TMC defectors, jumping sides backfired and as a result were either trailing or tasted defeat in the assembly polls. Many of these candidates were rewarded by their new party with election tickets for switching allegiance. 

However, a few defectors, who joined the BJP, got the better of their TMC rivals, including Suvendu Adhikari who took the Nandigram seat by defeating Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee by a narrow margin.

Top defectors who lost to TMC

Among prominent TMC turncoats who lost the battle were former state minister Rajib Banerjee, ex-MLA from Singur Rabindranath Bhattacharya, actor Rudranil Ghosh and former Howrah Mayor Rathin Chakrabarty. Some of them joined BJP with much fanfare after being flown to the national capital on a chartered flight.

Banerjee, who had defected to the BJP early this year, failed to make a hat-trick of win from Domjur constituency as he lost to TMCs Kalyan Ghosh by 42,620 votes.

Bhattacharya, who quit the TMC after being denied an election ticket, was defeated by the ruling party's candidate from Singur, Becharam Manna by nearly 26,000 votes. The BJP nominee was seeking re-election from the seat.

Singur in Hooghly district has been on India's political map after a farmers' stir forced the exit of Tata's small car project and is also a constituency which along with Nandigram shook the foundations of the mighty 34-year-old Left Front regime and propelled TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee to power in 2011.

Ghosh, who had joined the saffron camp recently, tasted a crushing defeat to TMC's heavyweight and minister Shobhandeb Chattopadhyay from Bhabanipur by over 28,000 votes. 

Trailing after leaving TMC

Other defectors include former TMC legislator from Bally Baishali Dalmiya and ex-Asansol Mayor Jitendra Tewari. A two-time former TMC MLA from Pandabeswar, who had also crossed over to the BJP before the polls, was trailing the ruling party nominee from the seat, Narendranath Chakraborty.

Dalmiya, who was expelled from TMC for allegedly speaking out against the party's leadership and had later joined the BJP, was also trailing behind Rana Chatterjee, a ruling party nominee from Bally.

Prabir Kumar Ghosal, an ex-TMC MLA, who was seeking re-election from Uttarpara on a BJP ticket this time, also lost to Kanchan Mallick of the ruling party by over 35,000 votes.

Another former TMC MLA Silbhadra Datta, who joined the saffron party also tasted defeat from Khardah. Former TMC legislator Dipak Halder, who was nominated by the saffron party from Diamond Harbour, was trailing Pannalal Halder of the ruling party.

While Sabyasachi Dutta, who had joined the BJP in October 2019, lost to Sujit Bose from the Bidhanagar seat by 7,997 votes. However, BJP's vice president Mukul Roy who had switched side in 2017, emerged victorious from Krishnanagar Uttar, defeating actress-turned- TMC nominee Koushani Mukherjee by a margin of 35,000 votes.

Just a few months ago, Mihir Goswami won the Natabari seat by defeating Rabindranath Ghosh of TMC.