Kolkata, May 23 (IANS): In an indication that it has benefitted from communal polarisation, the BJP on Thursday came up with a stunning performance in West Bengal constituencies, close to the India-Bangladesh border, which have a substantial minority vote.
In Muslim majority Malda district, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Khagen Murmu was leading in the Malda North constituency.
In North 24 Parganas' Raiganj constituency, BJP's Debasree Chaudhury was ahead of her Trinamool Congress (TMC) rival around three hours into the vote count.
In the the dalit Matua community dominated Bongaon Lok Sabha seat on the India-Bangladesh border, BJP candidate and late Matua matriarch Binapani Thakur's grandson Shantanu Thakur was leading over his aunt and Trinamool Congress candidate and sitting MP Mamata Bala Thakur by over 10,000 votes.