Bengal by-election result: Mamata Banerjee got 84,709 votes in Bhabnipur constituency.
Mamata Banerjee today won a landslide victory in the Kolkata bypoll, crucial to her stay as chief minister after her defeat in Nandigram. He won by a record margin of 58,832 votes over his BJP rival.
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NS Chief Minister South Kolkata’s Bhabnipur constituency polled 84,709 votes – the seat he had won in 2011 and 2016 as well – breaking his own record of 54,213 votes in 2011. The seat was vacated for him by state minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, who had won. Polling took place in April with a margin of over 28,000 votes.
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The Chief Minister lauded the results by flashing three fingers to celebrate Trinamool’s victory in assembly elections not only in Bhabnipur but also in Shamsherganj and Jangipur. Elections there in April were canceled due to the death of one candidate in each of these seats.
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Ms. Banerjee said, “I am not signing victory with two fingers. I am holding three fingers. We fought three elections, we won all three today. I am not so selfish.” “One, two, three, ma mati manush ke dhonobad din (one, two, three – give thanks to the people),” she said.
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“We are grateful that we won… I lost in Nandigram but the matter is in court,” she said. She said, “The most heartwarming thing is that I have not lost a single ward in the constituency. In 2016, I was left behind in a ward or two. Today, I have won in all. “
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Priyanka Tibrewal – a lawyer and long-time resident of the constituency – who was fielded by the BJP against Ms Banerjee, got 24,396 votes. The 41-year-old, who lost from the Antley assembly seat in April and the 2015 civic polls, has become a well-known name as one of the petitioners in the post-poll violence case against the state government.
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“As in every match one loses, one wins. But it is not necessary that the man of the match is from the winning team. I am the man of the match,” Tibrewal said after the results were announced. He said, “The little ant tries to climb through the door, but falls a hundred times before being made. One should not lose faith.”
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BJP state president Suknata Majumdar said, “I congratulate the chief minister. BJP always accepts people’s decision. But there is a question mark on how many people voted. Only 57 per cent. The rest did not either. Because they didn’t. Wanted or couldn’t. They said BJP will be wiped out from Bhabnipur. We are grateful for the support we got.”
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Mamata Banerjee, who lost Nandigram in the April-May elections, needed to be elected as an MLA before the end of six months to remain the chief minister. He had chosen Nandigram – where his agitation against land acquisition had propelled him to power a decade ago – as a challenger to BJP ally turned foe Suvendu Adhikari.
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The challenge is seen as a tonic for his party, which has been on the upswing since the BJP won 18 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. His defeat in Nandigram was a blot on the Trinamool Congress’s resounding third-time victory in front of the mighty BJP. election machine.
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In the other two assembly seats where results were declared today, in Shamsherganj, Trinamool candidate Amirul Islam was leading by over 10,000 votes and Jangipur’s Trinamool candidate Zakir Hussain by 52,528 votes.
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