Former TMC MPs Join BJP: Sushmita Dev Joins BJP Along With Ray and Baraik in Kolkata
Former TMC MPs Join BJP: On Thursday, former Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MPs Sushmita Dev, Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, and Prakash Chik Baraik joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in Kolkata.
State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya was present at the event where the three leaders joined the party.
Former TMC MPs Join BJP: Ex-TMC MPs Dev, Ray, and Baraik Officially Join BJP After Resigning From Rajya Sabha
Bhattacharya welcomed the former MPs by giving them BJP flags at a program held at the party's Salt Lake office, which was also attended by other senior leaders.
Dev, Ray, and Baraik resigned from the Rajya Sabha and left the Trinamool Congress last month after the party lost the West Bengal assembly elections.
Roy and Baraik's terms were due to end in September 2029, while Dev's term was set to last until April 2030.
Three seats will be up for election on July 24, and the BJP is expected to win all of them.
The ruling party in West Bengal has nominated the three former MPs as its candidates for the byelection.
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Sushmita Dev Joins BJP
Former TMC MPs Join BJP: After joining the BJP, Sushmita Dev said the party leadership would decide who gets the Rajya Sabha seats.
She explained that she did not join because she expected a seat, but as an outgoing MP from West Bengal.
TMC to BJP: Focus on the Party's Strengthening
TMC Leaders' Latest Update: Bhattacharya said the experience of the three former MPs would help strengthen the party in the state.
After the 2026 West Bengal assembly elections, the BJP became the largest party in the 294-member House with 208 seats.
The TMC won 80 seats. Congress and the Aam Janata Unanyan Party (AJUP) each got two seats, while the CPI(M) and the Indian Secular Front (ISF) won one seat each.
BJP Strengthens West Bengal Leadership
Former TMC MPs Join BJP: After some resignations, the BJP's numbers dropped to 207 and the AJUP's to one.
The ruling party kept a strong majority, while the opposition had 85 legislators.
This would have been enough for the opposition to secure one Rajya Sabha seat, with the BJP taking the other two.
The political situation changed a lot after the TMC split into two groups, one led by former chief minister Mamata Banerjee and the other by Leader of the Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee.
TMC leaders Latest News: Split in Opposition Redraws Rajya Sabha Election Equations
Former TMC MPs Join BJP: Right now, about 65 MLAs support Ritabrata, while around 15 back Mamata Banerjee.
This split has completely changed the Rajya Sabha election math. According to the rules for the three-seat bypoll, a candidate needs about 70 first-preference votes to win.
Opposition Split Hands BJP a Clear Path to Sweep All Three Seats
With 207 MLAs, the BJP can easily divide its votes among three candidates, giving each about 69 votes.
Neither TMC group has enough members to elect a candidate on its own.
A senior political analyst told the media that because the opposition is now split, what would have been a two-one contest now gives the BJP a real chance to win all three seats.
Key Facts About Sushmita Dev
- Sushmita Dev is an Indian politician who represents West Bengal in the Rajya Sabha as a member of the All India Trinamool Congress.
- She was elected to the 16th Lok Sabha from Silchar, Assam, in 2014 as a candidate for the Indian National Congress.
- Dev has also served as president of the All India Mahila Congress.
- She was born on September 25, 1972, in Silchar.
- Her father, Santosh Mohan Dev, was a senior Congress leader and former Cabinet Minister, and her mother, Bithika Dev, was a legislator in the Assam Assembly.
- Dev earned her B.A. at Miranda House and completed her LLB at the University of Delhi.
- She later studied at the Inns of Court School of Law and King’s College London.
- From 2009 to 2014, Sushmita Dev was chairperson of the Silchar Municipal Board in Assam.
- She was elected to the Assam Legislative Assembly in 2011 and, in 2014, won the Lok Sabha seat from Silchar as a Congress candidate.
- Dev left the Congress party in 2019.
- She served as president of the All India Mahila Congress from September 2017 to August 2021.
- On October 4, 2021, she was appointed to the Rajya Sabha from West Bengal with support from the All India Trinamool Congress.
- In April 2018, she joined the Central Advisory Committee for the National Cadet Corps.
- In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Dev lost to Dr Rjdeep Roy of the BJP by 81,596 votes.
- After this loss, she left the Congress and joined the Trinamool Congress, which later nominated her to the Rajya Sabha.
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