Kolkata: Bigwigs fell like ninepins in the just concluded seven-phase Lok Sabha Election 2024! Be it Nisith Pramanik, Union Minister of State, Ministry of Home Affairs or former BJP state president Dilip Ghosh, all were voted out as the trends translated into results.
Besides Pramanik and Ghosh, there are a few others who were defeated and were considered crucial in the polls. These are namely Congressman Adhir Chowdhury, BJP's Locket Chatterjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's handpicked candidate from Sandeshkhali, Rekha Patra.
Pramanik has been in the thick of things after switching allegiance from Trinamool Congress to BJP in 2019 and was a trusted lieutenant for the saffron brigade as he had control over the entire Cooch Behar for being served as the lawmaker in Dinhata. Surprisingly, Pramanik lost to TMC candidate Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia by 39,250 votes.
Another BJP heavyweight Dilip Ghosh also bit the dust from the Bardhaman-Durgapur parliamentary constituency when he lost to TMC heavyweight Kirti Azad by 1,37,981 votes.
Having started his political journey as Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) pracharak, Ghosh scaled the ladder to become the ninth president of the West Bengal BJP unit. Ghosh also served as the MLA of Kharagpur Town and then graduated to an MP from Medinipur parliamentary constituency. He had an all-win record till he lost on Tuesday.
The lone Congress flagbearer and five-time MP Adhir Chowdhury also failed to make the cut this time. He lost to TMC's cricketer-turned-politician Yusuf Pathan by 85,022 votes from Baharampur. Chowdhury has earned the moniker of 'Robinhood' for his nonchalant opposition to the Modi government at the Centre and the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government in the state.
The charismatic Chowdhury had expressed his fears of polarisation of votes in Baharampur soon after Pathan was fielded here. In the end, it was seen that the Congressman's fears were not unfounded. It now remains to be seen whether Chowdhury will make a turnaround or leave the field bruised and battered in the game he played so well.
Not a true-blue politician, Bengali actor Locket Chatterjee threw herself to the poll with high hopes of sealing a comfortable victory from the Hooghly seat, where TMC fielded fellow actress-turned-television anchor Rachana Banerjee. Eventually, Rachana had the last laugh from the Hooghly seat by 76853 votes thereby dashing Locket's hopes of going to the Parliament. The current general secretary of the West Bengal BJP would have to start from scratch to make up for her lost ground.
Last but not least, Rekha Patra emerged from nowhere soon after Sandeshkhali made the national headlines. In the cacophony of protests all over West Bengal, PM Modi visited Barasat to commemorate Women's Day.
There he gave a patient hearing to the tortured women of Sandeshkhali, and then went to Delhi and decided to give Rekha the ticket to contest the Lok Sabha elections from the Basirhat constituency, an otherwise Trinamool Congress stronghold.
But Rekha failed to live up to expectations as far as votes are concerned. She lost to Sheikh Nurul Islam of TMC by 3,33,547 votes in a one-sided affair.
