The Sandeshkhali movement by women against local Trinamool leaders, which the BJP used as a major campaign tool, failed to reap any political dividend for the saffron camp in this crucial Lok Sabha election in Basirhat, which includes the remote island, and in other 41 constituencies in Bengal.

As the results on Tuesday revealed the TMC's sweep in Basirhat and at least 29 constituencies in Bengal, a section of BJP leaders wondered why the Sandeshkhali issue did not work to create a rift in Trinamool's vote bank of women.

Rekha Patra, one of the alleged victims of Trinamool intimidation in Sandeshkhali, who was pitted as the BJP's Basirhat nominee, was defeated by the TMC's Haji Nurul Islam by a margin of 3,33,547.

"Trinamool's victory by a huge margin in Basirhat proves we failed to create any rift in Trinamool hegemony on the women's vote bank, even in a constituency that includes Sandeshkhali. We have to discuss the reason behind the failure," said a senior BJP leader in Calcutta.

"Around 300 women from Sandeshkhali visited and campaigned in all 42 constituencies across the state. The party's poor performance in the state proves that the Sandeshkhali narrative did not work," he added.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee said the BJP was defeated in Sandeshkhali, where they attempted to defame the women of Bengal by setting up a conspiracy.

"They have even failed to win in Sandeshkhali, where they defamed the women," said Mamata in a news meet at her Kalighat residence on Tuesday.

However, BJP sources said the saffron camp was leading in Sandeshkhali, one of the seven Assembly segments of Basirhat, by 8,387 votes.

Since February 7, scores of Sandeshkhali men and women complained of atrocities ranging from intimidation and land grab to sexual assault. They blamed local Trinamool strongman Sheikh Shahjahan and his aides Shibaprasad Hazra and Uttam Sardar, among others.

As the Bengal BJP dispensation came out to support the villagers, Shahjahan and his aides were arrested by the police.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who attended at least 22 campaign rallies in Bengal, highlighted the plight of the women on the remote island, besides fielding Rekha Patra as nominee. The BJP also formed a team of 300 women who travelled across the state, highlighting the plight of Sandeshkhali's women.

On Tuesday, some BJP leaders questioned if the party should have focused on land grab charges.

"It was a blunder to highlight only the plight of the women in Sandeshkhali. If we had focused on the issue of land grabbing, even the Muslims would have voted for us, as they are also victims. However, the top leadership did not listen, even after multiple suggestions," said a state BJP leader on condition of anonymity.

A source in the BJP said the party had expected that the alleged atrocities on women, such as sexual abuse by local Trinamool workers, would help them reap the most political dividends.

However, the BJP faced a setback on May 4 when Trinamool national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee released a “sting operation” video in which BJP mandal president Gangadhar Kayal allegedly said women of Sandeshkhali were given ₹2,000 each to file complaints of sexual abuse under instructions of BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari.

More such videos surfaced — none of which this newspaper has independently verified — making Trinamool allege that the entire Sandeshkhali episode had been a BJP "conspiracy".