WB bypoll: TMC bags all 3 seats, big win for Mamata Banerjee

Shubhadeep Choudhury

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 3

The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) has won all three West Bengal Assembly seats in the byelection, the results of which were declared today.

While Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee defeated BJP’s Priyanka Tibrewal by a record margin of nearly 58,000 votes from Bhabanipur, party nominees Amirul Islam and Jakir Hossain won from Samserganj and Jangipur, respectively.

Befitting reply

We have won in all wards of Bhabanipur. Voters have given a befitting reply to the conspiracy hatched against me in Nandigram. — Mamata Banerjee, Bengal Chief Minister

Banerjee secured 85,263 votes against 26,428 polled by Tibrewal. This is the third consecutive victory for the TMC chief from Bhabanipur and her biggest win from the seat till date. The victory will ensure that she continues to occupy the CM’s post. Having suffered defeat at the hand of BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari at Nandigram in the Assembly elections, Banerjee needed to win the election to retain the post.

After the results, she said not only Bengal but people from all over the country were watching the outcome of the bypoll with interest.

Claiming that 46 per cent of the electorate in Bhabanipur comprised non-Bengalis, Banerjee said she had secured more votes than her rivals in all wards of the constituency. “Bhabanipur is a small constituency with enormous diversity,” she said.

Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, who had won the seat and later resigned to pave the way for the bypoll, would now be the party candidate in the Khardaha byelection, which will take place on October 30.

BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar, while congratulating Banerjee, said it was doubtful how much the result reflected the mood of the voters since the turnout was just 57 per cent in Bhabanipur.

In Odisha, ruling BJD’s candidate Rudra Pratap Maharathy won the Pipili bypoll, defeating his nearest rival Ashrit Pattnaik of the BJP by over 20,000 votes.

Maharathy secured 96,972 votes, while Pattnaik bagged 76,056. Congress’ Bishwokeshan Harichandan Mohapatra got just 4,261 votes.