Amid RG Kar impasse, West Bengal Assembly bypolls litmus test for TMC
West Bengal’s ruling TMC on Sunday announced its candidates for the upcoming Assembly bypolls in the state. The party has fielded Sangita Roy from Sitai, Jay Prakash Toppo from Madarihat, Falguni Singhababu from Taldangra, Sujoy Hazra from Medinipur, Sk Rabiul Islam from Haroa and Sanat Dey from Naihati.
The bypolls, slated to be held on November 13, are expected to throw light on the impact of the protests over the alleged rape and murder of a junior doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on the electoral prospects of the TMC.
The bypolls were necessitated as the MLAs representing the seats contested and won the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The TMC represented five of these seats in 2021, while one (Madarihat) was won by the Opposition BJP.
The bypolls ate being held at a time when doctors are continuing their protest over the RG Kar incident. This has prompted a section of TMC leaders to challenge the doctors to contest the bypolls.
The medicos, under the banner of West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front, have been protesting for the past two months after the rape and murder incident on August 9. Public pressure has forced the state government to concede to the major demands of the protesters. The junior doctors, however, continue their ‘fast unto death’ in Kolkata’s Esplanade area.
TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh expressed confidence that the party would win all six seats and CPM — seen as “deeply engaged with the protesting doctors” — would get the third position in every seat.
Despite the doctors’ protest, political observers are of the view that TMC has an edge over the Opposition in the bypolls. The Assembly seats going to polls are mostly in the countryside and semi-urban areas, where the protests failed to evoke as much response as they did in the state capital Kolkata.
Taking a lead over other parties, the BJP on Saturday announced candidates for the six Assembly constituencies. The Congress, and the CPM-led Left Front are yet to announce their candidates. Meanwhile, the Congress on Sunday announced the names of four candidates for the upcoming bypolls in five assembly constituencies in Assam scheduled for next month.
