KOLKATA: Former minister Chandrima Bhattacharya of Trinamool Congress won the Kanthi Dakshin Vidhan Sabha seat on Thursday, defeating her nearest rival Sourindra Mohan Jana of BJP by a margin of 42,000 votes.
While the ruling party secured 95,369 votes, BJP dislodged CPI from the second position by securing 52,843 votes. Left party candidate Uttam Pradhan came third with 17,423 votes. With 2200 votes, Congress polled only around 800 votes more than NOTA.
While ruling Trinamool Congress slightly increased its voting percentage to 55 per cent from 53 per cent since April 2016, BJP registered a huge increase in vote share from 8 per cent in 2016 to around 30 per cent on Thursday.
Likewise, CPI saw a massive slide in its vote share, gaining only 10 per cent of the total votes polled. The bypoll was necessitated after incumbent MLA Dibyendu Adhikari of TMC was elected in the Tamluk Lok Sabha seat in the bypolls held in November 2016.
More than 80 per cent of the electorate exercised their franchise during the Kanthi Dakshin bypoll held on April 9. Polls in the 258 polling booths of the constituency were largely peaceful.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said it was people’s will that got reflected in the polls.
On the other hand, union Law and Justice minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the decimated Congress and Left means that Bengal is soon to witness an era of the rise of BJP.
However, winning candidate Chandrima Bhattacharya has said that the opposition parties Congress, CPM and BJP worked hand-in-hand which explains the BJP gains in the Vidhan Sabha seat.