Lok Sabha elections: 10 out of 18 turncoats stare at defeat in Bengal

Switching of parties by political leaders ahead of the parliamentary polls appears not to have gone down well with the masses in West Bengal as nearly 10 out of 18 turncoats are staring at their defeat as counting draws to a close.

In Alipurduar seat in north Bengal, Dasarth Tirkey the sitting TMC MP from Alipurduar, who was once a sitting RSP MLA, is staring at his defeat.

Manas Bhunia, Apurba Sarkar, Kanialal Agarwal, all former Congress MLAs, who contested from Midnapore, Baharampur and Raiganj respectively on TMC tickets are trailing.

Paresh Adhikary and Mafuja Khatun, former MLAs of Forward Bloc and CPI(M) who contested on TMC and BJP tickets respectively, are trailing in Coochbehar and Jangipur Lok Sabha seats.

Anupam Hazra and Mausam Noor, the former MPs of TMC and Congress who fought the polls on BJP and TMC tickets, are trailing in Jadavpur and Malda North Lok Sabha seats respectively.

Former TMC leader Sreerupa Mitra Chowdhury, who had contested polls on that partys ticket from New Delhi but is the BJP candidate from Malda South seat this time, is also trailing.

Former IPS officer Bharati Ghosh who recently joined BJP and was a contestant from Ghatal Lok Sabha seat, is trailing behind her nearest rival of TMC Deepak Adhikari.

During her stint as the Jhargram SP, Ghosh was considered to be the defacto TMC district president.

On the other hand, former TMC MP Soumitra Khan who is contesting from Bishnupur on a BJP ticket is leading against his nearest TMC rival by a huge margin.

Former Congress MLA Asit Mal who had contested the Lok Sabha polls on a TMC ticket from Bolpur Lok Sabha seat is also way ahead of his rivals.

TMC youth leader Nishith Pramanik, who was expelled from Mamata Banerjee's party last year, contested on a BJP ticket from Cooch Behar Lok Sabha seat and is leading against his nearest TMC rival.

The BJP has fielded another TMC turncoat, Bolpur MP Anupam Hazra from Jadavpur. He is trailing behind by more than two lakhs votes against his nearest rival of BJP, while former CPI(M) MLA Khagen Murmu who contested on a BJP ticket from Malda North, is leading by a handsome margin.

Former Forward Bloc leader Sunil Mondal, who was contesting on a TMC ticket and is a sitting party MP, is leading from the Bardhaman East Lok Sabha seat.

Also leading by a huge margin is Abu Taher Khan, a former Congress MLA contesting in TMC ticket from Murshidabad Lok Sabha seat.

Former TMC MLA Arjun Singh, who recently switched over to the BJP, has been pitted against TMCs Dinesh Trivedi in Barrackpore Lok Sabha was leading by a slender margin.

The Trinamool Congress Party is leading in 22 of 42 seats of West Bengal while BJP is ahead in 18, up from two it held in 2014. The Left is decimated in the state, which was once its citadel. The Congress is leading in two seats.