Bengal by-polls: Trinamool & Congress witness positive vote swings, negative for BJP

Kolkata: With the results of the by-poll for Kaliganj Assembly constituency in Nadia district of West Bengal announced on Monday – ending in a landslide victory of over 50,000 votes for Trinamool Congress candidate Alifa Ahmed – the figures show that both Ahmed and Left Front-supported Congress candidate Kabil Uddin Shaikh witnessed positive vote swings from what it was in the 2021 state assembly elections.

However, despite ending the tally in the second position, the BJP candidate Ashish Ghosh witnessed a negative vote swing from what it was in 2021.

Comparative statistics of the Kaliganj results in 2021 and 2025 show that Trinamool Congress witnessed a 1.8 percentage point positive swing in the by-poll from what it was in 2021.

Alifa Ahmed, the victor, secured 55.15 per cent of the total votes polled in her favour, as compared to 53.35 per cent by her late father and then Trinamool Congress legislator from Kaliganj, Nasiruddin Ahmed, in 2021.

The Left Front supported Congress, despite finishing in a distant third position, witnessed a 3.23 percentage point positive swing in the by-poll.

Kabil Uddin Shaikh secured 15.21 per cent of the total votes polled, as compared to 11.98 per cent by the then Congress candidate Abul Kashem in 2021.

Like the by-poll, there was a seat-sharing agreement between Congress and CPI(M)-led Left Front in 2021.

However, despite ending the tally in the second position in the by-poll, BJP’s Ashish Ghosh witnessed a 2.62 percentage point negative vote swing from what it was in 2021.

Ashish Ghosh secured 28.29 per cent of the total votes polled in his favour, as compared to 30.91 per cent by the then BJP candidate Abhijit Ghosh in 2021.

Kaligani is a minority-dominated constituency with Muslim voters constituting almost 60 per cent of the total voters.

IANS