NEW DELHI: Campaigning in an election is an intricate task. Candidates and their sponsoring political party need to identify issues that the voters will like to hear about. They need to, at the same time, predict what their opponents could do and prepare defence for the same. If the calculations go wrong so does the election result. As it did happen for BJP in West Bengal in the 2021 state Assembly election.
BJP in 2021 had sensed some strong tailwind but with faulty choice of candidates and planning turned it into headwind. It liberally recruited known faces from rival Trinamool Congress. The anti-TMC voters started viewing the party as B-Modi, a punch between TMC and BJP. Mamata Banerjee helped by smart campaign designed by IPAC, its election advisor, swept to power.
In 2026, BJP had learnt its lessons from past mistakes and planned carefully. Weeks before election was announced in the state, BJP launched a massive outreach programme covering nearly all assembly constituencies. Its nine such Parivartan Yatras traversed around 5,000 km in West Bengal. The yatra used several known faces from other states and centre along with local leaders. The yatra ended with Prime Minister Narendra Modi holding a massive rally at Kolkata’s large Brigade Parade ground. The estimated more than five lakh crowd was a record of sorts for any political party in recent years. The well planned initiation of campaign for 2026, the first ever in the state, rejuvenated the party and shocked rival TMC.
BJP had learnt from its mistakes of 2021. Its master tactician Amit Shah took over the planning and execution to match the TMC and its agency IPAC. The agency had created deep roots in West Bengal administration. It had played a critical role in creating obstacles in the Election Commission’s SII process. Amit Shah had quite a job at hand.
In order to outsmart Mamata Banerjee, BJP released its first list of candidates early, before any other political rivals. The party placed its most popular face and leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari in two constituencies, Nandigram and Bhabanipur. The first one is Suvendu’s home constituency where Mamata had challenged him in 2021 and lost. Bhabanipur is Mamata’s home constituency. Evidently BJP challenged Mamata at her home like she tried to use the trick in 2021 but lost in Nandigram. For Mamata there was no option but to contest from Bhabanipur. If she looked for another seat Nandigram was the other option. This was a masterstroke and made Mamata anxious. Bhabanipur has good support base for BJP with its mixed population.
BJP chose its candidates very carefully. It opted for local faces, brought in the mother of the R.G. Kar victim to contest at her home constituency. This changed the electoral scene in Kolkata and neighbourhood. She even came to Bhabanipur to campaign against Mamata. BJP’s careful selection of candidates turned TMC jittery. The focus on the administration’s failure, perhaps active participation in the rape and murder of the young doctor came to the forefront.
Filing of nomination of Suvendu at Bhabanipur saw Amit Shah accompanying him. This disturbed Mamata since the nomination centre is just a few hundred meters away from her residence. When she filed her nomination she had no option of creating a large procession. She walked to the centre and lost a campaign opportunity. By contesting at Bhabanipur, Suvendu planned a nearly everyday campaign there. But Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee could not go for door to door campaign busy as she is to campaign across the state. This handed Suvendu an advantage. Media kept on showing Suvendu’s door to door campaign while Mamata’s cadres could not get the limelight.
The careful planning of BJP used weaknesses of Mamata Banerjee. She abused Amit Shah for his frequent visit and campaign. That also gave BJP good media attention. Shah’s jibe that Mamata fakes injury (as she did in 2021) hurt her ego. Agencies like NIA and ED are used to solve pending cases against IPAC and TMC functionaries. The negative publicity made some candidates hide in hospital. The overall negative perception on TMC got magnified due to such reports. The late night arrests of a director of IPAC in Delhi on coal scam charges shocked TMC badly, dependent as the party became on IPAC support. While the criminal acts, if any, had been committed by TMC and its support base, the fact remains that actions initiated now are helping BJP campaign in West Bengal. Is this also a part of election campaign strategy?
The loudest part of BJP campaign has been its manifesto which promised doles generously as also spoke of developmental steps it will take if voted to power. Mamata could not match such promises, had nothing to offer on growth front and exhausted the state resources so much that she had no option of increasing doles. Mamata’s campaign is based on names dropped due to SII and abuses hurled at BJP leadership. Under pressure her normal incoherency multiplied causing her party further damage.
Judged by campaign rhetoric Mamata in 2026 is on back foot.
* Sugato Hazra is a political analyst.
