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Top BJP sources are hinting at recalibration in Bengal, driven by an analysis of the 2024 Lok Sabha results, which revealed vote share gains across 143 assembly segments
Home Minister Amit Shah with MoS Sukanta Majumdar (left) and Leader of Opposition in Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari during BJP’s organisational meeting in Kolkata on June 1. (PTI)
Ahead of the high-stakes Bengal elections next year, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is fast-tracking the internal rejig, with state-level appointments across the organisational structure gaining pace.
As the party inches closer to naming its next national president, top sources in the party are hinting at a strategic recalibration in West Bengal, driven by a granular analysis of the 2024 Lok Sabha results, which revealed critical vote share gains across 143 assembly segments.
Despite a dip in seats in 2014 compared to 2019, senior central leaders see the outcome as an opportunity, not a setback. Top BJP sources indicate the party is shifting gears in the state and the impact would be seen soon.
“The party had won 77 assembly seats in 2021. Leaders are now pointing to a pattern emerging from last year’s vote counts in a significant number of constituencies — the BJP was trailing by only a few thousand votes. In many places, we lost by margins of just 3,000 to 4,000 votes or even less. That is not exactly a defeat, it is probably a call to reorganise,” a senior party functionary told News18.
Over the next few weeks, the BJP is likely to announce a new state unit president for Bengal as well, with internal discussions narrowing it down to a shortlist. Sources also confirmed that the decision will come within the next few days.
After the general election, the Bengal unit of the BJP began the micro-planning — mapping booth-level dynamics, religion and caste equations in rural areas, and ward-wise shifts in voting behaviour, in the case of the urban constituencies.
WHAT DOES ‘RECALIBRATION’ MEAN?
The recalibration involves a dual-pronged strategy. First, the party will consolidate its existing vote base — the Hindu consolidations seen in border districts and tribal belts are being examined for deeper penetration, said the senior functionary calling it an “obvious” strategy.
Second, the BJP is now looking to eat into the Trinamool Congress’s traditional vote banks in urban and semi-urban constituencies where its vote share rose in 2024, he said. “There lies our primary challenge. We are now focusing on increasing votes by a few thousand in all those 143 constituencies where our vote share rose,” he added.
Senior leaders are working in that direction while targeting continuity in outreach, particularly through religious and cultural mobilisation. Visits to temples, focus on Ram Navami, and ground-level connections via programmes, including shakhas and local networks, are being reinforced.
“We are not treating 2024 as an end. It is an insight into how close we already are,” a leader remarked.
In Delhi, the central leadership is closely monitoring the Bengal situation, pushing for faster ground response, tighter coordination between national and state-level teams, and a steady infusion of younger leadership.
For a party often seen as aggressive in other states but somewhat “disconnected” from Bengal’s grassroots, this looks like a shift in strategy— from noise to nuance, and from hype to homework.
If the BJP’s internal math holds, a few thousand votes per segment may well redraw the battle lines and also the state’s political map in 2026.
Madhuparna Das, Associate Editor (policy) at CNN News 18, has been in journalism for nearly 14 years. She has extensively been covering politics, policy, crime and internal security issues. She has covered Naxa…Read More
Madhuparna Das, Associate Editor (policy) at CNN News 18, has been in journalism for nearly 14 years. She has extensively been covering politics, policy, crime and internal security issues. She has covered Naxa… Read More
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