Kolkata, June 24 (IANS) Despite losing the Kaliganj Assembly by-election in Nadia district, senior BJP leaders in West Bengal claimed on Tuesday that booth-wise polling trends indicated a growing consolidation of Hindu votes behind the party.

Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari said the booth-level data revealed a clear divide — BJP candidate Ashish Ghosh performed poorly in Muslim-majority booths, while he led in most Hindu-dominated ones.

“In the Kaliganj bypoll, the BJP candidate received either single-digit votes or failed to cross 50 votes in most Muslim-dominated booths. In contrast, the BJP was ahead in nearly all Hindu-majority booths,” Adhikari said on Tuesday.

“This unity of Hindu voters will pave the way for the rise of Hindutva politics in Bengal,” he added.

Adhikari asserted that Hindu unity was essential for political change in the state. “If Hindus remain divided, attacks on them will continue in places like Mothabari, Murshidabad, and Maheshtala. But if Hindus unite across Bengal, a political shift is inevitable in 2026,” he said.

BJP state general secretary and former journalist Jagannath Chattopadhyay supported Adhikari’s claim with statistics. Citing polling data, he said that the BJP’s support among Hindu voters in Kaliganj had steadily increased over recent elections.

“Kaliganj has approximately 1,07,846 Hindu voters (43 per cent) and 1,44,932 Muslim voters (57 per cent). Of the 1,85,664 votes polled in this by-election (73 per cent turnout), around 71,000 were cast by Hindus — a turnout of 69 per cent among Hindus. Our data show that BJP’s support among Hindu voters rose from 70 per cent in the 2021 Assembly polls to 72 per cent in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, and now stands at over 74 per cent — the highest ever,” Chattopadhyay said.

However, Trinamool Congress candidate Alifa Ahmed, who won the seat by a margin of over 50,000 votes, rejected the BJP’s narrative.

“The people of Kaliganj have once again shown that there is no place for communal politics in West Bengal. Voters from all communities supported us,” she said.

–IANS

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