The Left Front's struggle for electoral relevance in Bengal continued as it failed to send any representative to the Lok Sabha for the second successive time and 27 of 29 candidates forfeited their deposits.
Two CPM nominees — Md. Salim and Sujan Chakraborty — have got back their deposits.
The Left's partner, Congress, won from Maldaha Dakshin where Isha Khan Chowdhury emerged victorious. Although the Congress contested 13 seats, its eight nominees forfeited their deposits.
"It is a very disappointing outcome for the Left-Congress alliance, with only six of 42 — 14.29 per cent — candidates managing to prevent forfeiture of their deposits," said a CPM state committee member.
No candidate of the Trinamool Congress or the BJP faced such electoral humiliation in Bengal in 2024.
The CPM alone lost 21 of the 23 seats it contested in the state. In the rest of the country, its candidates had to forfeit their deposits in nine of the 29 Lok Sabha constituencies where the party contested.
Outside Bengal, the Congress's candidates lost their deposits in 18 of the 315 seats that the party contested.
Among the prominent Congress candidates who lost their deposits in Bengal are Pradip Bhattacharya (Kolkata Uttar), Munish Tamang (Darjeeling) and Nepal Chandra Mahato (Purulia).
According to the Representation of the People Act, 1951, any person who would contest a parliamentary or Assembly election must deposit an amount as a security deposit. For parliamentary elections, the amount is ₹25,000, whereas it is ₹10,000 for Assembly polls. This amount is mandated to ensure that only serious candidates file nominations.
But, if a candidate fails to get less than one-sixth of the total votes, his security deposit will be forfeited.
The Left lost deposits worth ₹6.75 lakh, while the Congress forfeited ₹2 lakh in Bengal.
Of all Left nominees in Bengal, RSP's Jaynagar candidate Samarendranath Mandal secured the least votes as he bagged just 40,113 (2.71 per cent) of over 14.82 lakh votes.
Among Congress candidates, Piya Roy Chowdhury who contested from Cooch Behar secured the least votes in Bengal. He bagged 10,679 (0.66 per cent) of the 16.2 lakh votes polled in his constituency.
“We understood that the ground situation was quite tough for us. But since last year’s gram panchayat election, we had been trying to build up an organisation at the grassroots. The crowds our rallies drew made us optimistic. We did not imagine this outcome," said the CPM state committee member.
Alimuddin Street insiders said the poor show of the young popular faces came as a shock.
In Jadavpur, CPM candidate and youth wing leader Srijan Bhattacharyya secured only 2,58,712 of 15.66 lakh (16.52 per cent) votes.
In Serampore, another promising young face Dipsita Dhar secured only 2,39,146 (16.2 per cent) of the 14.76 lakh votes.
The number of votes bagged by Pratik Ur Rahaman in Diamond Harbour was just 85,389 (5.68 per cent). The total votes in the constituency were 15.3 lakh.
CPM state secretariat member and its defeated candidate in Ranaghat Alakesh Das said: “It is quite shocking for all of us.... We need to ponder over such results and begin afresh."
