Kolkata, May 4: In a significant victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Saikat Panja has won the Monteshwar assembly seat in the second phase of the West Bengal elections, defeating Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidate Siddiqullah Chowdhury by a margin of 14,798 votes. The election witnessed a record voter turnout of 93.56% in the Purba Bardhaman district.
Panja secured 96,559 votes, while Chowdhury received 81,761 votes. CPI(M) candidate Anupam Ghosh finished third with 18,192 votes, and Congress‘s Jyotirmay Mandal garnered only a few votes. The overall voter turnout in the Purba Bardhaman district averaged 93.83%, one of the highest in this election.
Monteshwar is a general category seat under the Bardhaman-Durgapur Lok Sabha constituency, with its current structure established after the 2008 delimitation. Historically, the Left Front dominated this area in the early decades, with CPI(M) winning multiple times, but TMC later strengthened its hold. In the 2021 elections, Chowdhury had defeated Panja by 31,508 votes.
This time, the BJP placed its trust in 34-year-old Saikat Panja, a postgraduate who previously associated with CPI(M) before joining BJP. He has two criminal cases against him and declared assets worth approximately ₹44.6 lakh. On the other hand, 76-year-old Siddiqullah Chowdhury, a postgraduate, has one case registered against him and assets estimated at around ₹1.8 crore. CPI(M)’s Anupam Ghosh, aged 42, is a graduate with no criminal cases and assets of ₹10.6 lakh, while Congress’s Jyotirmay Mandal is 56 years old and has completed the 12th grade.
The Monteshwar seat comprises a mix of rural and semi-urban voters. The heavy voting indicated an interesting contest from the outset. The BJP’s effective strategy around anti-incumbency and local issues paid off, while the vote split from the Left and Congress also favored the BJP.
Panja’s victory is seen as a result of the party’s focus on youth and organizational efforts, while TMC faced challenges in maintaining its traditional voter base. The outcome in Monteshwar is expected to influence the political dynamics across West Bengal.