Pockets of south Calcutta with a sizeable non-Bengali speaking population where the BJP had fared well in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections saw the Trinamool Congress doing much better in 2024.

In several wards of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), across areas like Bhowanipore, Alipore, New Alipore and even parts of Behala, Trinamool Congress MP Mala Roy either reduced the trailing margin or took a lead.

Several non-Bengali residents of these areas with whom The Telegraph spoke on Thursday said there were several reasons why they did not vote for the BJP:

• They felt the Narendra Modi government and the Modi-led BJP was “behaving arrogantly”
• The development guaranteed by Modi “did not happen” as promised
• Issues like GST and the lack of an “acceptable BJP face” in Bengal were among the other reasons
• Trinamool leaders this time reached out to these communities more than before.

In Ward 74 of the KMC (Alipore area), Roy had a deficit of 4,630 votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. In 2024, the deficit reduced to 2,452 votes, said Trinamool sources.

In Ward 71 (Bhowanipore area), the deficit came down from 1,930 votes in 2019 to 1,002 in 2024, the sources said.

In Ward 116 (Behala area), Trinamool had trailed by 681 votes in 2019. In 2024, the party took a lead of 91 votes.

A Trinamool councillor from the New Alipore area, where a sizeable portion of the voters are non-Bengali speaking, said a big factor why Roy recovered the deficit of 2019 was “connect with the people”.

“The residents of the ward have seen that we provide the services they require in their daily lives. Also, this is a safe and secure neighbourhood, which is an important factor for them,” said Jui Biswas, Trinamool Congress councillor from Ward 81 (New Alipore area).

In 2019, Trinamool had trailed here by around 2,900 votes. In 2024, the trailing margin was around 900.

In some of the Assembly segments, like Rashbehari, the trail has been erased this time. In Bhowanipore, the lead increased, show data.

In the Rashbehari Assembly constituency in 2019, Trinamool had trailed by 5,452 votes. In 2024, the party took a lead of around 1,700 votes.

In the Bhowanipore Assembly seat, the party increased its lead from 3,168 votes in 2019 to 8,200 in 2024.

“This time, I, along with local councillors and leaders, held meetings with the non-Bengali speaking communities in Bhowanipore and New Alipore. I had personally appealed to them with emotion. I said many of them didn’t vote for me last time but we have provided them services throughout the year,” said Roy, who defeated the BJP’s Debasree Chaudhuri by more than 1.87 lakh votes.

“Also, a discontent against Narendra Modi was palpable in many of their voices,” she said.

Some of the non-Bengali speaking voters this newspaper spoke to said they were unhappy with Modi.

“I usually vote for the BJP. But this time Modiji and his government has become very arrogant. I didn’t like it,” said a resident of the Bhowanipore area, who is a businessman.

“There is no face of the BJP in Bengal. The party does not seem to have any leadership here. Also, I didn’t like the way they played up the Sandeskhali incident,” said another resident of Hazra Road.

A third, who lives in Puddapukur, said the GST, though a smaller issue, was a concern. “Many small businessmen have to keep an extra person for GST filings. It is a very complicated process,” he said.

The areas with a sizeable non-Bengali population in the north are still with Modi. In the Jorasanko Assembly area, the Trinamool candidate for Calcutta North, Sudip Bandyopadhyay, trailed by 7,401 votes, and in Shyampukur by 1,599 votes.