Kolkata, Jun 26 (IANS): In the forthcoming bypolls for Raiganj Assembly constituency in North Dinajpur District, there is speculation whether the Congress can again emerge as the key factor in determining the margin of results.

Going by the results in the recently-concluded General Elections for the Raiganj seat, under which Raiganj is one of the seven Assembly constituencies, the dent made by the Congress in the anti-BJP vote share facilitated a comfortable winning margin for the BJP.

In the last polls, the BJP candidate from Raiganj Lok Sabha, Kartick Chandra Paul, defeated the Trinamool Congress’ Krishna Kalyani by a margin of 68,197 votes, where the Left Front-supported Congress candidate Ali Imran Ramz drew 2,63,273 votes.

In fact, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, after the results, claimed that had not the Congress candidate facilitated division in the anti-BJP and Muslim votes at Raiganj, her party’s candidate would have easily won from that constituency.

Now, it is to be seen whether the Left Front-supported Congress candidate in the bypolls for Raiganj Assembly, Mohit Sengupta, who was a former and two-time MLA from that constituency from 2011 to 2021, can divide the anti-saffron votes there.

Another uncomfortable factor for the Trinamool Congress in the forthcoming bypolls scheduled on July 10 is the turncoat image of its candidate, Krishna Kalyani, who got defeated from Raiganj Lok Sabha in the last polls.

Kalyani got elected as a BJP candidate from Raiganj Assembly in 2021 and months after winning he joined the Trinamool Congress.

This time before the Lok Sabha polls he had to resign as MLA since he was contesting as a Trinamool Congress candidate.

Given his turncoat image political observers say the going will be tough for Kalyani in the bypolls as well.

The statistics of the past poll results both in 2021 and 2024 keep the BJP candidate for the bypolls Manas Kumar Ghosh in a comfortable position.

In 2021, the BJP’s winning margin from Raiganj Assembly was 20,748 votes. As per the Assembly-wise results in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the Raiganj Assembly gave the BJP candidate a lead of 46,739 votes.

At Raiganj, BJP has a strong organisational base capable of countering the might of the ruling Trinamool Congress.