Kolkata, Nov 23 West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress decisively won the bypolls, sweeping all the six Assembly constituencies that voted on November 13.
What has left the Trinamool leadership especially inspired is the victory of the party candidate from the Madarihat Assembly constituency in Alipurduar district, where its candidate Jayprakash Toppo defeated his nearby BJP candidate Rahul Lohar by a margin of 28,168 votes.
The BJP candidate was elected from Madarihat in the two successive Assembly elections in 2016 and 2021. In fact, this is the first-ever victory of Trinamool Congress from Madarihat.
Madarihat went for the bypolls after its sitting BJP legislator Manoj Tigga got elected from the Alipurduar Lok Sabha seat in the general elections earlier this year.
At Madarihat, independent candidate Budhiman Lama and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) candidate Padam Oraon secured the third and fourth positions respectively, with their deposits being forfeited.
In Sitai, Sangita Roy was declared elected by a massive margin of 1,30,156 votes, defeating her nearest rival, BJP's Dipak Kumar Roy. Congress candidate Harihar Roy Singha and the All India Forward Bloc candidate Arun Kumar Barma came in the third and fourth positions, respectively, and forfeited their deposits.
Roy's winning margin far surpassed that of the victory margin of her husband and the erstwhile Trinamool legislator, Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia, in the 2021 Assembly elections as he had won by just 10,112 votes. Sitai went for bypolls after Basunia resigned as the legislator after being elected from the Cooch Behar Lok Sabha constituency in the general elections this year.
In the Haroa Assembly constituency in North 24 Parganas district, Trinamool candidate Seikh Rabiul Islam won by the biggest margin in this round of bypolls, defeating his closest contestant and Left Front-supported All India Secular Front (AISF) candidate Piyarul Islam by a margin of 1,31,388 votes.
BJP candidate Bimal Das and the Congress candidate Habib Reza Chowdhury secured the third and fourth positions respectively, with their deposits being forfeited.
At the Taldangra Assembly constituency in Bankura district, Trinamool candidate Falguni Singhababu was declared elected by a margin of 33,856 votes over his nearest contestant and BJP candidate Ananya Roy Chakraborty.
CPI-M candidate Debkanti Manti and Congress candidate Tushar Kanti Sannigrahi were in the third and fourth positions respectively, with their deposits being forfeited.
At the Medinipur Assembly constituency in the West Midnapore district, Trinamool candidate Sujoy Hazra defeated his nearest contestant and BJP candidate Subhajit Roy by a margin of 33,996 votes.
CPI candidate Mani Kuntal Khamrai and Congress candidate Shyamal Kumar Ghosh finished in the third and fourth positions, respectively, with their deposits being forfeited.
Trinamool candidate Sanat Dey has been declared elected from the Naihati Assembly constituency in North 24 Parganas district, defeating his nearest contest Rupak Mitra of the BJP, by a margin of 49,277 votes.
Left Front-supported CPI-M-L candidate Dabajyoti Majumder and Congress candidate Paresh Nath Sarkar ended in the third and fourth positions respectively, with their deposits being forfeited.
The bypolls for these six Assembly constituencies were conducted on November 13 and one person died in clashes on the polling day.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had expressed gratitude to the voters of these six Assembly constituencies for electing her party candidates. "Your blessings will be the sources of our inspiration to move ahead in the coming days," she said.
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