In Bengal’s three-way battle, the Congress undermined the Trinamool Party and the Left hurt the Bharatiya Janata Party’s chances.

The results of the West Bengal Lok Sabha election showed that in 14 of the 42 seats, or nearly a third of the constituencies, candidates from the Left Front and Indian National Congress won more votes than they would have won by that margin.

While the Congress candidate weakened the Trinamool Congress, the Left Front undermined the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) chances of victory. In what was expected to be a polarising election, the outcome presents an interesting paradox: the Congress’ 4.68% vote share and the CPI(M)’s 5.65%, a combined total of just over 10%, had a major impact on the outcome.

For example, in North Bengal’s Raiganj constituency, Bharatiya Janata Party’s Kartik Chandra Paul defeated Bharatiya Janata Party’s Krishna Kalyani by 68,197 votes in an election in which the Indian National Congress’ Ali Imran Rams received around 263,000 votes. In Maldha Uttar constituency, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Khagen Murm defeated the Indian National Congress’ Prasun Banerjee by 77,708 votes. The Indian National Congress’ Alam Mustaq came third, receiving 384,000 votes.

The Congress’s influence was not limited to North Bengal. In Purulia, South Bengal, BJP candidate Jyotirmoy Singh Mahato won by 17,079 votes over Trinamool candidate Shantiram Mahato. Congress candidate Nepal Mahato won 129,000 votes.

The Trinamool won 29 of the 42 seats, the BJP 12 and the National Conference 1. The Trinamool Party’s vote share was 45.76% and the BJP’s 38.73%.

After the results of the Lok Sabha elections were announced on June 4, West Bengal Chief Minister and BJP leader Mamata Banerjee told reporters that her party’s candidates had lost four seats to the BJP. Although the BJP is part of the Indian Union, it decided to contest the elections in West Bengal on its own. The Left and the BJP joined forces to contest 42 seats. After the election results, the BJP leader pledged allegiance to the Indian Union, and party leader Abhishek Banerjee attended a meeting chaired by BJP leader Mallikaljun Kharge on June 5.

The situation was reversed in constituencies in south Bengal where the CPI(M) candidate won more votes than his winning margin. In Dum Dum constituency, the CPI(M)’s Sujan Chakraborty won 240,000 votes while Trinamool’s Saugata Roy won by a margin of about 70,000 votes.

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In Jadavpur constituency, Trinamool’s Saiyoni Ghosh won against BJP’s Anirban Ganguly by 258,000 votes. CPI(M)’s Shrijan Bhattacharya secured 258,000 votes. In Krishnanagar, Trinamool candidate Mahua Moitra defeated the runner-up of the BJP by 56,000 votes. CPI(M) candidate SM Sadhee secured 180,000 votes in the constituency. In Kolkata Uttar, Trinamool leader Sudip Banerjee won by around 92,560 votes while Indian National Congress Party’s Pradip Bhattacharya secured 110,000 votes.

In several constituencies in South Bengal, including Barrackpore, Asansol, Bankura, Bardhaman Purba, Bardhaman Durgapur, Hooghly and Sreerampore, elections were held in which the votes secured by Left Front candidates exceeded the victory margin of the Trinamool Party candidates.

Election scholar and political commentator Viswanath Chakraborty said when the prime minister said his party’s candidates had lost because of the Indian National Congress, he was referring to Raiganaj and Malda Uttar constituencies. “But in south Bengal, the votes secured by CPI(M) candidates has exceeded the victory margin in several constituencies,” Chakraborty said.

An analysis of the results also shows that the margin of victory for Trinamool Party candidates is much larger than that of the BJP winners.