Bengal 2026 polls: BJP targets constituencies with narrow defeat margins
With the West Bengal Assembly elections due next year, the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has begun focusing on constituencies where its candidates suffered narrow defeats in the last two electoral contests.
Kolkata: With the West Bengal Assembly elections due next year, the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has begun focusing on constituencies where its candidates suffered narrow defeats in the last two electoral contests. The party has set a benchmark to identify those constituencies where the defeat margins of their candidates were less than 10,000 votes, both in the 2021 West Bengal Assembly polls and Assembly-wise results of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
“Although in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, our number of winning seats was less than what it was in 2019, in terms of assembly-wise results, our performance had been better than what it was in the 2021 Assembly polls. After detailed analysis of the results of each of the 294 assembly constituencies both in 2021 and 2024, we have identified such constituencies with thinner defeat margins on which special focus is being laid,” a BJP state committee member said.
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He also said that in most of these assembly constituencies where the defeat margins of our candidates were 10,000 votes or less, a substantial chunk going for CPI(M)-led Left Front candidates helped Trinamool Congress candidates secure victories. “So accordingly, we are also giving special emphasis targeting the non-BJP, but anti-Trinamool Congress votes in our favour in 2026,” the state committee member added.
After the 2021 West Bengal assembly polls, the BJP emerged as the largest opposition party in West Bengal, winning a total of 77 seats. An assembly-wise analysis of results in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls showed that the BJP candidates were ahead of their Trinamool Congress rivals in 90 constituencies. The magic figure required to grab power in West Bengal is 148.
At the same time, the state committee member added that the party leadership is keeping a close watch on the assembly-wise deletion of voters’ names following the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the state. Names of 58.20 lakh voters have already been deleted from the draft voters’ list published on December 16.
The hearing process on the claims and objections began on Saturday. The BJP expects the total number of deleted voters to rise to above 1 crore in the final voters’ list to be published in February next year. Shortly after the publication of the final voters’ list, the Election Commission of India (ECI) will announce the polling dates for the 2026 West Bengal assembly polls.
