The BJP apprehends that the Left Front-backed Congress candidate will divide anti-Trinamool Congress votes in the Raiganj Assembly byelection and harm the saffron camp’s prospects although it secured a lead of 46,000 votes in the constituency in the recent Lok Sabha polls.

Bypolls will be held on July 10 in Raiganj, along with three other Assembly constituencies in Bengal. The Raiganj seat became vacant after sitting MLA Krishna Kalyani quit to contest as a Trinamool candidate in the Raiganj Lok Sabha constituency.

“We are apprehensive that the Congress candidate (Mohit Sengupta) will divide the anti-Trinamool votes, which will eventually help Trinamul. It is true that we were ahead of the TMC, Congress and the Left in the past three elections but there is an anxiety in our party that it will be a cut-throat contest this time,” said a senior BJP functionary in the North Dinajpur district.

In 2019, the BJP won the Raiganj Lok Sabha seat for the first time and secured a lead of around 42,000 votes in the Raiganj Assembly segment. In the 2021 Assembly polls, the BJP bagged the Raiganj seat by a margin of over 20,000 votes. The winner, Kalyani, however, defected to Trinamool soon.

The BJP retained the Raiganj Lok Sabha seat this year and the lead increased to 46,000 votes in the Raiganj Assembly segment.

Still, the BJP is worried over Sengupta’s presence. “There is a chance that he will pocket a considerable number of anti-TMC votes. This will reduce our margin and might pave the way for Trinamool’s victory,” said another BJP leader.

That the contest by the Congress candidate alarmed the BJP was evident when the leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, on Thursday called Sengupta a “vote cutter”.

Campaigning for the BJP nominee for the Raiganj bypoll, Manash Ghosh, Adhikari said: “I personally respect Mohit Sengupta. But he is contesting to cut Hindu votes and anti-TMC votes to help the TMC.”

Ghosh had left the TMC and joined the BJP.

During the Lok Sabha election campaign, the TMC had called Raiganj Congress candidate Imran Ali Ramz a “vote-cutter”.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had urged people, especially Muslims, who constitute around 50 per cent of the population of North Dinajpur, not to vote Ramz.

“He (Ramz) is in the fray to help the BJP and divide the minority votes. You should not vote for him,” she had said at a public meeting.

Ramz had secured around 14,000 votes in the Raiganj Assembly segment which has around 2.06 lakh voters.

Ramz’s presence seemed to have helped the BJP win the Raiganj Lok Sabha seat for the second time.

“Ahead of the Assembly bypoll, the Congress candidate has been again labelled as a vote cutter. But this time, the BJP has used the term,” said an observer.

The TMC has fielded Krishna Kalyani for the bypoll.

Sengupta had been the Raiganj MLA from 2011 to 2021 and also the civic chairman for 15 years from 2001.

“During his tenure in the Raiganj municipality, no charge of corruption was raised against the civic body. However, anomalies were reported after the TMC formed the board. Sengupta didn’t desert the Congress even though he had received offers from the TMC many times,” said a veteran politician.

Kalyani and Ghosh, on the other hand, are defectors.

“People of Raiganj will reject the defectors in the byelection. If the voting is held in a free and fair manner, we are confident of regaining the seat,” said Sengupta.