West Bengal assembly poll results: Muslims pressed button for TMC in Congress bastion

KOLKATA: Muslims went with the Trinamool Congress displaying a consolidation in the 2021 Bengal assembly polls, more than it was in the 2016 assembly polls and the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Of the 141 assembly having Muslim presence, TMC bagged 120 seats while one seat went to Abbas Siddiqui’s Indian Secular Front and 20 seats to the BJP.

The results of the 49 seats spread over Murshidabad (22), Malda (12), Uttar Dinajpur (9), Dakshin Dinajpur (6) fairly display the consolidation.Muslims pushed to the wall dumped the Congress even in the party’s traditional belt and voted for the TMC.
The Congress lost ABA Ghani Khan Chowdhury’s turf Sujapur to TMC by a margin of one lakh votes.
TMC also won Mothabari, Malatipur, Harishchandrapur and Ratua for the first time.
In the 2016 assembly polls, Congress won eight of the total 12 seats in Malda. The BJP improved it tally from one to four apparently due to counter-polarisation.
The consolidation of Muslim votes worked wonders for TMC in Uttar Dinajpur. TMC won seven of the total nine seats in the district while in 2016, Congress had bagged three seats and two seats had gone to the Left.
TMC benefited the most in Murshidabad where Congress couldn’t win a single of the total 20 seats. The Congress couldn’t win a single seat in the district. TMC won 18 seats including Farrakka and Lalgola while the BJP won the Behrampore and Murshidabad seats.
TMC also did well in South Dinajpur where they bagged three of total six seats and the rest went to the BJP.
According to TMC leaders, the overarching majoritarian campaign of the BJP prompted the minorities to choose the party that could give them security.
It happened despite a host of TMC leaders in Malda having joined the BJP ahead of the polls.
The Congress and the Left failed to earn the confidence of the minorities.
TMC, on the other hand, could consolidate the support of the minorities in most of the 141 assembly seats in the districts like South 24 Parganas, Nadia in south Bengal.