After Lok Sabha slide, Mamata makes comeback as TMC sweeps West Bengal bypolls
Kolkata/IBNS: After experiencing a massive setback in the Lok Sabha polls six months ago, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday came out with flying colours as her party Trinamool Congress (TMC) swept the bypolls held in three seats of the state on Nov 25.
As the poll results were declared on Thursday, the TMC not only retained Karimpur but also clinched victory in Kharagpur Sadar and Kaliaganj for the first time, giving a jolt to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which had claimed to win all three after an unprecedented surge in West Bengal in May elections.
In Karimpur, which was vacated by TMC's Mahua Moitra after she was elected to Lok Sabha, Mamata's candidate Bimalendu Singha Roy won by 24,119 votes.
The Kharagpur Sadar seat, which was a prestige fight for the BJP, fell vacant after saffron party's state president Dilip Ghosh resigned following his election to Lok Sabha.
TMC candidate Pradip Sarkar clinched victory by over 20,811 votes, three years after Ghosh was elected to the state assembly from the constituency.
Taking the saffron party to more surprise, the TMC managed to turnaround in Kaliaganj where the BJP was ahead by over 50,000 votes in the last Lok Sabha polls. TMC candidate Tapan Deb Singha registered his win by a margin of 2,414 votes.
The Kaliaganj seat, which was never won by the TMC earlier, fell vacant after the demise of then Congress MLA Pramatha Nath Ray.
Dedicating her party's win to people of the state, Mamata trained her guns at the BJP whose tally went from two to 18 in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
"Arrogance does not work in Bengal. The BJP is facing the result of its arrogance," Mamata reacted.
The TMC supremo also urged people to bid adieu to the BJP from the state.
Considering National Register of Citizen (NRC), which was an issue in the polls, a factor for BJP's defeat, Mamata said, "We are all citizens of the country. Why would someone in the state living for 50 years has to prove his citizenship?"
After its Lok Sabha tally came down from 34 to 22 in 2019, the TMC took a number of steps and one of them was the appointment of political strategist Prashant Kishor. The West Bengal's ruling party had also started "Didi Ke Bolo" campaign where people were asked to address their grievances.
(Image Credit: Mamata Banerjee Facebook)
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