Trinamool Congress It was violated on Monday, leading to several high-profile casualties, including party chief Mamata Banerjee.
In a shocking upset in 2021 – when it won all 11 Kolkata seats – the Trinamool was reduced to just five seats. The city’s southern suburbs voted for change and handed over their strongholds Jadavpur and Sonarpur to the BJP. However, Kasba remained loyal to the party.
The scale of the collapse can be measured by the defeat of senior ministers who were considered the architects of the party’s urban machinery. But Mamta’s loss will be felt the most.
Shashi Panja lost to RSS ideologue Purnima Chakraborty in Shyampukur by a margin of 14,633. Similarly, influential power minister Arup Biswas, who was a key organizer in South Kolkata, lost what was once a safe haven – Tollygunge. Actor Papia Adhikari unveiled him.
The city’s administrative leadership also faced a public trial. Kolkata Deputy Mayor Atin Ghosh lost to BJP’s Ritesh Tiwari from Belgachia-Cossipore area by 1651 votes. The defeat extended to his mayor-in-council colleagues – Debashish Kumar from Rashbehari, who was defeated by BJP’s Swapan Dasgupta, and Debabrata Majumdar from Jadavpur.
Sitting MLA and former councilor Ratna Chatterjee lost the Behala West seat to BJP’s oncologist Indranil Khan. The constituency had elected former education minister Partha Chatterjee five times since 2001. However, there were some face-saving victories for TMC. Mayor Firhad Hakim secured Kolkata port, while veteran leader Sobhandeb Chatterjee won Ballygunge. State minister Javed Ahmed Khan won in Kasba and party spokesperson Kunal Ghosh won in Beliaghata for the fourth consecutive time. Veteran politician Nayana Bandyopadhyay won from Chowringhee and Sandipan Saha from Entally.
The BJP’s chariot moved into Kashipur-Belgachia, Shyampukur, Maniktala and Jorasanko, which had remained with Trinamool since the ‘change’ in 2011. In Jorasanko, BJP’s Vijay Ojha defeated Trinamool candidate Vijay Upadhyay by a margin of 5,797. In 2021, former Trinamool MLA Vivek Gupta defeated BJP candidate Meena Devi Purohit by 12,743 votes.
Maniktala has been a TMC stronghold since 2011 when Sadhan Pandey won. After his death in 2024, his wife Supti Pandey won. This time his daughter Shreya Pandey lost to BJP’s Tapas Roy by 15,644 votes.
On the outskirts, Bhangar was won by ISF’s Naushad Siddiqui, who defeated Trinamool’s influential South Kolkata leader Shaukat Mollah. Veteran actress Roopa Ganguly defeated MLA Lovely Maitra in Sonarpur South. In Sonarpur North, BJP’s Debashish Dhar is leading over Trinamool MLA Firdausi Begum by more than 11,000 votes.
Trinamool also lost its 15-year strongholds Bidhannagar and Rajarhat Gopalpur. However, TMC managed to retain Rajarhat New Town with Tapash Chatterjee winning by a slim margin.
