With India drowning in crisis, Modiâs party loses big in a key election.
Lining up to vote last month in the Indian state of West Bengal. Voting began there in March and continued through last week, despite Indiaâs Covid-19 crisis.Credit.Dibyangshu Sarkar/Agence France-Presse â Getty Images
May 2, 2021
One of Indiaâs feistiest opposition parties cruised to victory in a crucial state elections in West Bengal on Sunday, dealing a blow to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a campaign held during a catastrophic Covid-19 surge.
Top parties, including Mr. Modiâs Bharatiya Janata organization, had campaigned relentlessly in West Bengal, one of Indiaâs most populous states and a stronghold of opposition to Mr. Modi, Indiaâs most powerful prime minister in decades. Mr. Modi and other politicians held enormous rallies up and down the state, which critics said helped spread the virus.
IN THE HOME state of Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, a person too clever by half is said to have won the house, but lost Gujarat. Through March and April, political pundits voiced the Gujarati proverb as a warning. So fiercely were Mr Modi and his Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) fighting to win elections in another state, West Bengal, that they risked losing a bigger prize. Focused obsessively on the campaign through eight rounds of voting that ended on April 29th, they failed to pay attention as India’s second wave of covid-19 grew from a worrying swell into a tidal wave the biggest cataclysm to have struck the country in living memory. What good would it be if Mr Modi unseated Mamata Banerjee, the obstreperous opposition leader in West Bengal, if his apparent lack of interest in the mounting body-count from the pandemic shook the whole country’s confidence in his leadership.
Modi Loses Key State in Sign of Voter Backlash After Virus Surge Bloomberg 5/3/2021 Bibhudatta Pradhan
(Bloomberg) Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party lost an election in a key state he visited frequently before the recent virus surge forced him off the campaign trail, adding to growing signs of a backlash over his government’s handling of the world’s worst Covid-19 outbreak.
In West Bengal, incumbent Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s All India Trinamool Congress won around 72% of 292 seats up for grabs, while Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party took 77, according to results posted on the Election Commission of India on Monday. Last month, the prime minister predicted his party would win more than 200 seats in the state, which held voting over eight phases starting on March 27.
By Press Association 2021
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a public rally ahead of West Bengal state elections in Kolkata, India
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi suffered a resounding defeat in a key state election on Sunday, indicating his Hindu nationalist party’s political strength may be slipping as the country struggles to contain an unprecedented surge in coronavirus cases.
Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was unable to dislodge West Bengal state’s firebrand chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, after a hard-fought campaign.
On Sunday night, Mr Modi took to Twitter to congratulate his rival’s win.
He wrote: “The Centre will continue to extend all possible support to the West Bengal Government to fulfill people’s aspirations and also to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic.”
West Bengal: Daily Wage Earner s Wife Chandana Bauri Wins Saltora Constituency On BJP Ticket
Chandana Bauri, BJP MLA from Saltora
Bharatiya Janata Party BJP candidate Chandana Bauri registered one of the significant wins in the West Bengal Assembly polls from the Saltora constituency.
30-year-old Bauri, whose husband, Sraban Bauri is a mason, got 91,648 votes which amount to 45.28 per cent of the total vote share, according to the Election Commission Website.
Nearest candidate Sontosh Kumar Mondal of All India Trinamool Congress trailed by 4,145 votes in the end.
Bauri s assets amount to just Rs 31,985, while her husband s assets worth Rs 30,311, according to the affidavit filed by her in Election. The couple has three children and also owns three cows and three goats as reported by