TMC bags all three seats as Mamata Banerjee wins big from Bhabanipur

Shubhadeep Choudhury
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, October 3

The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) of West Bengal has bagged all three assembly seats in the state that went to polls on September 30.

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

Election in Samserganj and Jangipur could not take place at the time of general elections owing to the death of candidates.

Mamata got 85,263 votes as against 26,428 votes secured by Tibrewal. Shrijeeb Biswas, CPI(M) candidate,  polled 4,226 votes and lost his security deposit. 

This is the third consecutive victory from Bhabanipur by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo and also her biggest win from the seat till date. Her previous best was the victory margin of 54,000 votes in 2011 when she won byelection from the seat after being sworn in as chief minister.

The latest contest – result of which was announced today – was once again a bypoll as Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay,  TMC nominee who had won the seat in the assembly elections held earlier this year, resigned from the Assembly to pave the way for Mamata to contest from Bhabanipur.

Mamata today announced that Sobhandeb will be the party candidate from Khardaha where byelection will take place on October 30.

Victory at Bhabanipur will ensure that Banerjee continues to occupy the chair of the chief minister. Having suffered defeat at the hand of BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari at Nandigram in the assembly elections, Mamata needed to become an MLA by November 5 to remain chief minister.

The big margin of Banerjee’s victory emboldened TMC leaders to speak openly about their dream to see Banerjee as prime minister.

Firhad Hakim, transport and housing minister, said Bhabanipur with its motley electorate was like a “mini-India”.

“Victory of Mamata Banerjee from Bhabanipur by record margin is a signal that she can no more be confined in Bengal as the people of India want to see her as the face of coalition of forces against Modi,” Hakim said.

Attacking Congress, Hakim said Congress party may have its own idea about who will be the PM in case BJP is defeated but people have already accepted Mamata as one who is Modi’s main rival.

Mamata said that not only Bengal, but also people in the rest of the country were watching with interest the outcome of the bypoll in Bhabanipur.

Claiming that 46 per cent of the electorate in Bhabanipur consisted of people who were not Bengalis, Banerjee told the media persons in Kolkata that she had secured more votes than her rivals in all the wards of the constituency.

“Bhabanipur is a small constituency with enormous diversity,” Banerjee said.

BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar, while congratulating Banerjee on her victory, said it was doubtful how much the result reflected the mood of the voters since only 57 per cent of the electorate at Bhabanipur cast their votes.

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