KOLKATA: After Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance gave a jolt to the BJP in Maharashtra, the Trinamool Congress added to its woes in West Bengal. The ruling party in the state on Thursday secured a victory in the bypolls to Kaliaganj Assembly constituency with a margin of 2,304 votes on Thursday.
TMC candidate Tapandeb Singha won the bypolls with a margin of 2,304 votes.
The ruling party’s victory is considered as a huge setback to the BJP because the saffron camp had a sweeping victory in north Bengal by bagging seven out of eight seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Union minister Deboshree Chowdhury had secured a lead of more than 56,000 votes in the Assembly constituency in the Lok Sabha polls.
The initial trends from the other two constituencies also indicate big leads from the ruling Trinamool.
The trend after the seventh round of counting out of 16 in Kharagpur(Sadar) constituency is reflecting a setback to the saffron camp as Trinamool Congress candidate Pradip Sarkar is leading by 11,946 votes.
The seat is considered as a prestige fight for the BJP as its state president Dilip Ghosh was elected from there in 2016 Assembly elections with a margin of more than 5,000 votes.
In 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the margin was increased to more than 45,000 votes.
The seat fell vacant after Ghosh was elected as an MP from Midnapore.
In Karimpore, Trinamool candidate Bimalendu Singha Roy secured the lead with a margin of 27,771 votes after counting of fourth round out of 13.
If the trend continues, the ruling party likely to snatch Kaliaganj and Kharagpur (Sadar) seats from Congress and BJP respectively.