West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee

The West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC), formerly known as the Bengal Provincial Congress Committee in Colonial India, is the unit of the Indian National Congress for the state of West Bengal.

The head office of the organization is ''Bidhan Bhavan'', situated in Kolkata at ''Dr. Lalmohon Bhattacharjee Road''. The President of the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee is Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.

List of presidents

*1935- Sarat Chandra Bose
*1938- Sarat Chandra Bose
*1941- Nellie Sengupta
*1942- Bidhan Chandra Roy
*1945- Labanya Prabha Datta
*1948- Dr. Suresh Chandra Bandopaddhaya
*1949- Surendra Mohon Ghosh
*1950- Atulya Ghosh
*1958- Dr. Yadavendra Nath Panja
*1961- Atulya Ghosh
*1962- Rabindra Lal Singha
*1964- Ajoy Mukherjee
*1965- Rejaul Karim
*1966- Dr. Pratap Chandra Chunder
*1970- Bijoy Singh Nahar
*1971- Abdus Sattar
*1972- Arun Moitra
*1977- Purabi Mukherjee
*1978- A. B. A. Ghani Khan Choudhury
*1980- Ajit Kumar Panja
*1981- Ananda Gopal Mukherjee
*1985- Pranab Mukherjee
*1987- Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi
*1988- A.B.A. Ghani Khan Choudhury
*1991- Sidhdharta Sankar Ray
*1992- Somendra Nath Mitra
*1998- A. B. A. Ghani Khan Choudhury
*2000- Pranab Mukherjee
*2008- Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi
*2010- Manas Bhunia
*2011- Pradip Bhattacharya
*2014- Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury
*2018- Somendra Nath Mitra
*2020- Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury

Activities

The WBPCC, since 2009, has been trying to regain the Congress's lost votebank in West Bengal after the advent of Trinamool Congress as the principal challenger to the Left Front in the state.
In order to maintain a healthy alliance with the AITC at the Centre before 2014, the PCC had to compromise regarding the seat-sharing arrangement for every election since the 2009 Loksabha polls.

Despite its organisational strength, it had not been allowed to contest sufficient number of seats in its bastions in the 2011 Vidhansabha election.

The workers have been attacked and their party offices have been taken over by alleged AITC activists.
Therefore, INC was left with no other option but to field candidates independently, due to which INC couldn't field winning candidates in as many as 24 of the 129 wards which went to polls.

The big task ahead is to prove the party's existence as a force to reckon with in the state by defending its fortresses and by winning a substantial number of seats in upcoming elections.

Performance in elections

Loksabha election, 2009

The Congress high command had worked out an alliance with the Trinamool Congress for the 2009 Loksabha polls as a result of which the state leadership of the Congress had to accept the seat-sharing deal with the AITC on Mamata Banerjee's terms. The AITC offered 14 of the 42 seats in West Bengal for the Congress to contest, and that included several Left Front bastions for decades like Arambagh, Jhargram, Bankura and Bolpur. But the leaders eventually had to accept the "humiliating" offer for the sake of the alliance. The Congress fought 'bravely' in the Loksabha election and retained all its fortresses such as Jangipur, Baharampur, Murshidabad, Malda North, Malda South and Raiganj, but it could not open its account in the rest of South Bengal where its contested only "unwinnable" seats which the Left Front retained. Before the election, the Congress had 6 MPs from West Bengal – and it remained with six even after the election. On the other hand, the AITC, with only one MP, went up to 19, thanks to the alliance. Overall as an alliance, the AITC-INC-SUCI combined crushed the then-ruling Left Front which won 15 seats as opposed to the alliance's 26.

Municipal election, 2010

Elections to 81 municipalities in West Bengal took place in the year 2010. Again the AITC offered very few seats to the Congress. But the municipal election being a localized one, the state leadership officially decided to go it alone in the election but left it to the local leadership of the party to decide whether to go for unofficial seat adjustments with the AITC at the local level. This election was seen as a "do or die" for the state Congress to prove its independent existence in the state and also the fact that it could win on its own.

Jalpaiguri division

The Congress performed very well in the Cooch Behar municipality by winning eight seats but it could not open its account in Tufanganj, Mathabhanga and Dinhata municipalities.

It won 16 of the 25 seats Jalpaiguri municipality.

Malda division

The Congress improved its performance and won the Englishbazaar municipality with support from the AITC but in Old Malda municipality it could win only in 6 seats while the Left Front won 12.
It also won the Beldanga, Murshidabad and Kandi municipalities and missed Dhulian by just one seat. But it could not manage victory at Jangipur and Jiaganj-Azimganj municipalities.

Presidency division

It retained Santipur and Birnagar municipalities but lost Ranaghat. It also won a few seats in Nabadwip and Kalyani.
INC performed quite well and required support of AITC to form the municipal boards. In Kolkata, it secured as many as 10 seats.

INC emerged as the single largest party in Jaynagar Majilpur Municipality and formed the board with external support.

But it failed to win any seat in Ashoknagar-Kalyangarh, Kamarhati, Khardaha and Bidhannagar, Baruipur, Bally, Gayeshpur, Taherpur, Baranagar, Titagarh, New Barrackpur, Kanchrapara, Garulia, Taki and Bongaon

Burdwan division

The Congress formed the municipal board in Rishra by emerging as the single largest party and the AITC required the Congress's support to control Sreerampur, Champdani and Konnagar. Though the Congress won substantial seats in Bansebria, Bhadreswar, Baidyabati and Hooghly-Chinsura it was blanked out in Chandannagar, Uttarpara-Kotrung, Tarakeswar and Arambagh.
The Congress won all 19 seats and won Katwa municipality and emerged as the single largest party in Dainhat. The AITC required the support of 5 Congress councillors to form the board at Kalna. The Congress also won an impressive number of seats in Memari and opened its account in Jamuria, but it remained a negligible force in Raniganj.
The Congress won an impressive 8 and 6 seats in Bolpur and Suri respectively and it secured 4 in Rampurhat.

Medinipur division

INC won 2 seats in Tamluk municipality but could not win any seat in Kanthi.
Also performed well in Ghatal, Kharagpur and Ramjibanpur where it formed the boards along with the AITC. But it could not make its presence be felt in Kharar, Khirpai and Chandrakona.
The Congress secured 8 seats in Purulia municipality and gained control of it along with the AITC but it could not snatch Jhalda from the Left. It also won a seat in Raghunathpur.
The Congress won 5 seats in Bankura, but it drew a blank in Sonamukhi and lost control of Bishnupur.

Overall, the Congress won 330 (18.4%) of the 1791 wards that went to polls in the year 2010. This was indeed an impressive result for the party, as it had fought alone - without the AITC.

Assembly election, 2011

This time also, an "illogical and humiliating" offer of 65 of the 294 assembly seats had to be accepted by the state Congress as the high command wanted the AITC-INC alliance to remain intact. The Congress performed well by winning 42 of the 65 seats with excellent results from Malda and Murshidabad districts and pockets of North and South Bengal. It joined the Mamata Banerjee-led government and had two Cabinet ministers and 5 Ministers of State representing the party before withdrawing support from the state government .

Municipal election, 2012

Municipal elections to Dhupguri, Durgapur, Haldia, Panskura, Nalhati and Coopers' Camp were held in 2012. The Congress fought independently and field candidates in 105 of the 129 wards for which elections were held.
The Congress could not win any seat in Dhupguri, Haldia and Panskura municipalities. It won a seat in Durgapur Municipal Corporation. In Nalhati (from where Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's son Abhijit is elected to the assembly), the party managed three of the 15 seats. But the party received a shot in the arm when it registered a victory in Coopers' Camp – winning 11 of the 12 seats. The AITC won one.

References

External links

Official website
*

Andolon, WBPCC mouthpiece

{{West Bengal

Indian National Congress by state or union territory
Indian National Congress of West Bengal
Political history of West Bengal