Election Flashback: Lok Sabha elections are going on across the country. This time Bharatiya Janata Party is giving the slogan of crossing 400. A tough fight is being seen between BJP and TMC in West Bengal. But there was a time when Bharatiya Janata Party, along with TMC, registered its first victory in West Bengal. In fact, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee made inroads in West Bengal during the Communist Party of India (Marxist) era and won its first Lok Sabha seat in the 1998 general elections for the 12th Lok Sabha.
BJP defeated CPI(M)
Let us tell you that in 1998, the party fielded Tapan Sikdar from Dum Dum Lok Sabha seat, who defeated CPI (M) candidate Nirmal Kanti Chatterjee by a margin of 1,37,405 votes. Tapan Sikdar secured a total vote share of 50.70 percent, while Nirmal Kanti Chatterjee secured 39.70 percent votes. The interesting part of this election was that the BJP contested the 12th Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal in alliance with Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC). This was TMC’s first Lok Sabha election after the party was founded by Mamata Banerjee as a breakaway faction of the Indian National Congress (INC) on January 1, 1998.
Did not win again after 1999
After 1998, BJP had also won Dumdum seat in 1999 Lok Sabha elections. However, after 1999, the saffron camp has failed to claim this seat again. After the formation of the BJP government at the Center under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Tapan Sikdar served as a member of various committees including Foreign Affairs and its Sub-Committee-III, Finance and as a member of the Consultative Committee in the Ministry of Water Resources in 1998–99. had worked. When he was re-elected from Dum Dum in 1999, Tapan was given the charge of Minister of State (MoS) for Communications.
Tapan Sikdar got ministry
Between January–June 2022, Tapan was the Union Minister of State for the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. After the cabinet reshuffle in July 2002, Tapan Sikdar was made the Union Minister of State in the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers till 2004. In 2004, Tapan Sikdar lost the seat to CPI(M) leader Amitav Nandy by a margin of 98,252 votes. In 2019, Amitav Nandy lost the seat to TMC’s Saugata Roy by a margin of 20,478 votes. Since 2009, Dum Dum has remained a stronghold of Mamata’s party after Saugata Roy retained the seat in the next two Lok Sabha elections, including 2014 and 2019.
Dum Dum Lok Sabha Elections 2024
The main contest for Dum Dum seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections is going to be between Saugata Roy of Trinamool Congress, Shibhadra Dutta of BJP and Sujan Chakraborty of CPI (M). Let us tell you that the seventh and last phase of voting on Dumdum seat is to be held on June 1. The results of the elections will be declared on June 4.
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