The Trinamool Congress has retained the Barasat Lok Sabha seat but the party's candidate trailed the BJP's in 10 of the 14 wards in Salt Lake.

The four wards where Trinamool led are all on the fringes of the township.

Trinamool Congress MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar retained the seat defeating the BJP's Swapan Majumder by a margin of more than 1.14 lakh votes.

But Majumdar took a lead of 11,156 votes over Ghosh Dastidar from the Bidhannagar Assembly segment. The BJP had taken a lead of more than 18,000 from the Assembly segment in 2019.

However, despite the lead narrowing in the Assembly segment, in several wards of Salt Lake, which are under the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation, the BJP has fared better than in 2019. In some, Trinamool's performance has slightly improved.

Trinamool sources blamed the lack of civic development in several areas of the township and factionalism as reasons for Ghosh Dastidar trailing the BJP candidate in the 10 Salt Lake wards.

In Ward 33, which includes the FB, FC, FD, FE, FF, GB and CC Blocks, Ghosh Dastidar trailed Majumdar by 1,902 votes in 2024. In 2019, she had trailed by 1,728 votes.

In Ward 29, the BJP led by a margin of 2,118 votes in 2024, compared with 1,535 in 2019. This ward includes the AJ, AK, AL, BJ, BK, CL, CJ, CK, DJ and DK Blocks and a part of SA Block. Bidhannagar mayor Krishna Chakraborty is the Ward 29 councillor.

In Ward 31, which covers the AE, BE, BF, CF, CE, DE and DF Blocks, Ghosh Dastidar was able to marginally bring down the trailing margin. In 2019, she had trailed the BJP candidate by 2,258 votes. The margin came down to 2,138 votes in 2024.

A Trinamool source said that although Ghosh Dastidar had trailed in Salt Lake in the last three Lok Sabha elections, they were expecting her to do better this time.

"We carried out extensive campaigns and are the ones that rush to the aid of the residents, especially the elderly, at odd hours. But that didn't seem to work,” said the source.

Among the most common complaints of Salt Lake residents are bad roads, pavements taken over by hawkers and non-functional streetlights.

Sanjay Poddar, a resident of CA Block who runs a business, said this time they had voted keeping in mind the dismal state of civic services.

“Be it bad roads, low-hanging cables or lack of cleanliness, Salt Lake is lagging behind in every aspect. The township once looked clean. Now the streets are often lined with garbage. Hardly anything is done to address the issues despite multiple complaints," Poddar said.

A Trinamool leader in Salt Lake said factionalism within the party could have led to Ghosh Dastidar bagging fewer votes than the BJP candidates in the 10 wards.

Mayor Chakraborty said all councillors had actively campaigned for Ghosh Dastidar, including making door-to-door visits.

“I had requested all councillors to conduct door-to-door visits and ask the residents if they needed any help to enrol for government welfare schemes," she said.

"In the areas where we have trailed, the BJP has led in the last three general elections. It's a continuation of that trend. We did try our best and will keep working for the people.”

Ghosh Dastidar said she would work towards improving infrastructure in Salt Lake. “I have always been involved in development work in the township,” she said.

A source close to her said she had tried to woo the non-Bengali speaking community this time. "A big Holi celebration in CF Block had her patronage. She participated in it. She had reached out to 58 block committees," said the source.

Sujit Bose, the Bidhannagar MLA who had campaigned extensively for Ghosh Dastidar, said he was appalled at the result.

“We have to think about what went wrong. Our councillors went around and Duare Sarkar camps were extensively held, where people enrolled for government welfare schemes,” said Bose.