New Delhi: Outgoing West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee will hold a press conference on Tuesday, a day after her party Trinamool Congress (TMC)
was routed in state assembly elections. Mamata will hold the briefing at Kalighat at 4 pm.
While it is not immediately clear about what she will talk about during the briefing, reports have indicated that the three-term chief minister might discuss TMC’s next plan of action. She on Monday talked about not accepting the Bengal verdict, saying, “I do not accept this loss.” Mamata also lost her seat to BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari from Bhowanipore, her bastion, by 15,105 votes.
TMC routed in West Bengal
TMC, which was aiming for a fourth consecutive term in office, was reduced to 81 seats, while BJP won 208 constituencies. According to reports, there were more than 30 seats from where the party was winning since 2011 but in this year’s elections it lost all of them.
Trinamool also saw its vote share slip from 48 per cent in 2021 to 40.8 per cent this poll. BJP, meanwhile, garnered 45.8 per cent votes. The vote per cent gap between the parties was more than 10 and the BJP was able to increase its vote share by 7 per cent.
Several TMC ministers lose polls
Several ministers, including CM Mamata, in the outgoing West Bengal cabinet tasted defeat. These include Udayan Guha, Shashi Panja, Moloy Ghatak, Chandrima Bhattacharya, Bratya Basu, Becharam Manna and Manas Ranjan Bhunia among others.
Udayan Guha lost the Dinhata seat to BJP’s Ajay Ray by over 17,000 votes. Women and Child Welfare minister Shashi Panja was defeated by BJP’s Purnima Chakraborty by 14,633 votes in Shyampukur assembly constituency.
Minister Moloy Ghatak lost to the BJP’s Krishnendu Mukherjee by 11,615 votes. Chandrima Bhattacharya, state Finance minister was defeated in Dum Dum Uttar constituency by by BJP’s Sourav Sikdar. Education minister Bratya Basu lost from the adjacent Dum Dum constituency. Becharam Manna was defeated in Singur. Minister Manas Ranjan Bhunia lost in Paschim Medinipur’s Sabang assembly constituency.
However, senior TMC leaders Shovandeb Chattopadhyay, Firhad Hakim and Javed Khan managed to secure victories.
