Mamta Banerjee will have a tough road to the power given the realignment and reconfiguration of the players in the fray. Furfura Sharif cleric Pirzada Abbas Siddiqui’s decision to contest the election with the Left-Congress alliance has not gone well with her.
Otherwise, a cleric would not have mustered the courage to organize his efforts under the banner of the Indian Secular Front. Though Mamta Banerjee also thinks that in case she falls short of numbers, the cleric will readily and willingly come to her rescue.
However, she is confident that her party will go beyond the magic numbers of 148 required to form the government. She appreciates and acknowledges the efforts of pollster Prashant Kishor for his determination, dedication, and devotion to rebuild and restructure the rank and file of Trinamool. Bringing back TMC to the race after running the state government, didi found herself in a better position than earlier. After the desertions and defections of key Trinamool leaders and councillors in the Bharatiya Janata Party, she was left demoralized.
Not anymore if the opinion polls’ trends are observed and believed, giving a ray of hope to the incumbent, many pollsters believe that TMC might comfortably bag 155-180 seats out of 294. Trinamool got 211 seats in the last assembly elections, and the Left-Congress alliance secured 77 seats.
BJP finished with 3 seats, mostly from the northern part of the state. This time, the situation looks distinguishably different from what it was in 2011 and 2016 as for the Bharatiya Janata Party’s ascendancy as an ideal alternative after the 2019 general elections.
Securing 18 seats with a 40% vote helped the party give Mamta Banerjee a run for her money. With this courage and conviction, the party has become more dedicated and determined to oust didi from power, which looks like a herculean task. If the Left performs decently, then BJP will have to look for other options like using the services of Owaisi for significantly denting Mamta Banerjee’s vote bank.
It is very much possible given Owaisi, as the representative of the Muslim community, persuades, organizes and mobilizes their voices effectively, giving prime minister Modi and his coteries a chance for running a polarizing campaign manufacturing an electoral opportunity for his party if they were to close the gap with the incumbent TMC.
There is no denying this possibility as the assembly elections in West Bengal will take place in eight phases beginning 27th March, with results being declared on 2nd May. Top guns of Bhartiya Janta Party like Kailash Vijayvargiya, Babul Supriyo, Dilip Ghose have termed these elections as referendum promising civic and infrastructural reforms in the state. Confident about their prospects given the Left’s slide in these elections, decimating a leaderless and rank less Congress in the state. Don’t be surprised if the BJP crosses hundred and five seats, stunning poll pundits and analysts.