Sandeshkhali Victim, BJP's Rekha Patra, Loses Basirhat By 3.3 Lakh Votes

In a clear sign of West Bengal rejecting the BJP's attempts to make the alleged sexual assault oF women in Sandeshkhali an election issue, the party's candidate from Basirhat has lost the Lok Sabha polls to the Trinamool Congress's pick by a margin of over 3.3 lakh votes.

Sandeshkhali is one of seven Assembly constituencies in the Basirhat Lok Sabha seat and the BJP had fielded Rekha Patra, a victim of alleged torture by suspended Trinamool Congress strongman Sheikh Shahjahan and his aides.

In March, nearly a month before the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also called Ms Patra and called her Shakti Swaroopa, or the embodiment of Shakti.

"You are Shakti Swaroopa, you sent such powerful people to jail. We will fight together for the honour of women, not just in Basirhat, but across Bengal. You have my full support," he had said.

Aware that women voters have been one of the main reasons for the victory of the Trinamool Congress and Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the BJP went all out to try and blame the party for Shahjahan's actions. Joining the chorus of state-level leaders from his party, PM Modi also accused Ms Banerjee of shielding Shahjahan and continued to attack her and the Trinamool Congress even after his arrest.

Then, last month, videos began surfacing of a BJP leader purportedly admitting that no rapes or sexual harassment had taken place and women were convinced to file such complaints at the directions of senior party leader and Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal, Suvendu Adhikari.

In one of the videos, BJP's Mandal Sabhapati, Gangadhar Kayal, could be heard saying that his party had convinced the women - who were protesting against the alleged land grab in the village by Shahjhan and his aides - that the Trinamool strongman would not be arrested until such allegations were made. The instructions for this, he alleged, were given by BJP's Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, who was earlier with the Trinamool Congress.

Multiple women then also alleged that people linked with the BJP made her sign a blank paper and wrote false rape complaints in their name.

The winning candidate from Basirhat is the Trinamool's Haji Nurul, who was nominated by the party in place of sitting MP Nusrat Jahan.

"I was confident of a win. Whatever was spoken about Sandeshkhali was a lie and people never believed them (the BJP). The videotapes proved that BJP's hand was behind it... It was a dirty conspiracy by the BJP and people gave them a befitting reply," Mr Nurul told PTI.

"It's the magic of Mamata Banerjee, and people have full trust in her...It was not that easy to defeat her only by conspiring, one needed to do some good work," he added.

The fact that the Sandeskhali issue failed to make an impact was also reflected in the larger picture in West Bengal. The Trinamool Congress is on course to win 29 seats, up from the 22 it had won in 2019, while the BJP has been reduced to 12 from 18.