Kolkata, Jun 4 (PTI) The BJP described Tuesday's results of Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal as not up to expectation but said the voting percentage of the party has increased.
BJP state spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Samik Bhattacharya also said that the party is happy that three TMC candidates, who had been elected on BJP tickets in the last assembly polls and changed camps without resigning, have been rejected by people.
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Of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state, the BJP won 10 and was leading in two others till 10.45 pm. The ruling TMC, on the other hand, bagged 28 seats and was leading in one, according to the EC data.
"Yes, our result was not as expected. We accept the mandate of the people of Bengal. We will self-introspect. But our vote share has definitely increased compared to that in 2019," he said, without mentioning any figure.
"It has to be noted that three turncoats, who had switched camps from BJP to TMC without resigning at first, were snubbed by the electorate in those constituencies. This shows the people of Bengal don't support opportunist people," Bhattacharya said.
Biswajit Das, Mukutmani Adhikari and Krishna Kalyani, who had joined the TMC from the BJP, were defeated in the Lok Sabha polls amid superlative performance by the ruling party in Bengal.
Bhattacharya further claimed the win of BJP candidate Shantanu Thakur from Bongaon showed that people, including members of the Matua community, did not pay heed to TMC's false narrative about CAA and NRC.
Apprehending large-scale violence and attack on BJP workers by TMC goons in different parts of the state, he said a "control room has been set up at the party state headquarters to stand by the party supporters".
"We apprehend more such attacks where BJP candidates had got larger share of votes," he said.
Bhattacharya said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's attack on BJP in her press conferences after publication of results was unfortunate.
"Perhaps it gels with the party which attacks the constitutional head (governor) having no faith in democratic principles. But we don't believe in rancour, we believe in congratulating the winner," the BJP leader said.
Leader of Opposition and BJP's Nandigram MLA Suvendu Adhikari said, "We had anticipated higher number of seats. We will look into the reasons."
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