Bypolls: TMC establishes supremacy in WB, ruling parties win in TN, AP

New Delhi, February 16

Unaffected by the swirling political controversies and scams, the Trinamool Congress on Monday established its supremacy in West Bengal by retaining both Bongaon Lok Sabha and Krishnaganj assembly seats with handsome margins while the ruling parties in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Goa and Arunachal Pradesh won an assembly by-election each, respectively.

The ruling AIADMK won the Srirangam Assembly seat in the vacancy caused by the unseating of Jayalalithaa in a corruption case while TDP bagged the Tirupati seat in Andhra Pradesh. BJP won the Panaji seat and the Congress the Liromoba seat in Arunachal Pradesh.

However, the BJP, which has been trying to make inroads inWest Bengalcame second in the Assembly seat while it stood third in the Lok Sabha seat.

TMC candidate Mamatabala Thakur won the Bongaon (SC) Lok Sabha seat with a margin of 2,11,794 lakh votes, substantially higher than the 1.46 lakh votes margin it got in last year's Lok Sabha polls. The bypoll was dubbed as a prestige fight after state minister Manjul Krishna Thakur quit the government and TMC to join BJP.

While the TMC candidate secured 5,39,990 votes, her nearest CPI(M) rival Debesh Das got 3,28,196 votes. Manjul Thakur's son Subrata, who was BJP's candidate, got 3,14,119 votes. Congress came fourth in the constituency.

In the Krishnaganj Assembly by-election, TMC candidate Satyajit Biswas won by a margin of 37,033 votes. He secured 95,467 votes and defeated his nearest BJP rival Manabendra Roy to secure 50,436 votes. The CPI(M) was relegated to third position with 37,620 votes in contrast to the second position it had got in the last elections.

TMC chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee described the results as a miracle and said the party is "intact and strong".

She also said that the results were people's "rejection of the conspiracy byDelhiand slanderous campaign of the BJP and a section of the media".

The bypoll results also assume significance ahead of this years's crucial elections to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and about 80 municipalities across the state and the assembly polls to be held next year.

The Trinamool Congress has been buffeted by a series of arrests of its top leaders including minister Madan Mitra by the CBI in the Saradha chit fund scam.

The victory in both the seats has come as a shot in the arm for Mamata, who in recent months has accused the BJP of trying to politically use CBI to corner her party.

Riding on a sympathy wave, TDP nominee M Suguna won the bye-election to Tirupati constituency by a massive margin of over one lakh votes.

The bypoll was necessitated due to the death of Suguna's husband and TDP MLA M Venkataramana last December.

While YSR Congress did not contest the elections, the misery of Congress, still smarting under the rout of last year's elections, went up when its nominee R Sridevi lost the security deposit.

InGoa, the ruling BJP won the Panaji seat, which was held by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar since 1994.

BJP candidate Siddharth Kuncolienkar won the by-election by a margin of 5,368 votes defeating his immediate rival and Congress nominee Surendra Furtado.

Congress retained the Liromoba Assembly seat in Arunachal Pradesh with its candidate Nyamar Karbak defeating his BJP rival by a slender margin of 119 votes.

While Karbak polled 3,808 votes, BJP nominee Bai Gadi polled 3,689 votes followed by Independent candidates Lijum Ronya (2,589), Lijum Ronya, Raksap Yomcha (355) and Johny Tali (40 votes).

By-election was necessitated due to the death of former chief minister Jarbom Gamlin on November 30 last year.

Though the result of Srirangam seat has not been officially announced, unofficial sources put the vote count at over 1.44 lakh for AIADMK's Valarmathi and over 52,000 for DMK'sN Anand. BJP finished a poor third at over 4000 votes. — PTI