TMC, RJD, Congress win bypolls
NEW DELHI: The Trinamool Congress (TMC), the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress on Saturday registered wins in by-elections across four states — West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Maharashtra — while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) drew a blank.
The TMC won Asansol Lok Sabha and Ballygunge assembly segments in Bengal, the RJD won the Bochahan assembly seat in Bihar, and the Congress retained the Khairagarh assembly segment in Chhattisgarh and Kolhapur (North) seat in Maharashtra. Voting for these seats in four states was held on April 12. In West Bengal, actor-turnedpolitician Shatrughan Sinha registered big victory in Asansol bypolls, securing 656,358 votes with a winning margin of 303,209 over BJP candidate Agnimitra Paul, who polled 353,149 votes.
After the win, Sinha said, “This win is of TMC, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the people of Asansol. I have never seen such an overwhelming response and love.”
The Asansol Lok Sabha seat fell vacant after former Union minister Babul Supriyo quit the BJP in October last year to join the TMC. Supriyo, who contested as a TMC candidate from the Ballygunge seat, secured 51,199 votes, while CPI(M)’S Saira Shah Halim secured the second position with 30,971 votes. The bypoll was necessitated after the demise of state minister Subrata Mukherjee. With this victory, the TMC’S strength increased to 23 in the Lok Sabha, and 213 in the assembly.
“The blessing of the people will inspire us to work more. People have kept their faith in us despite the propaganda and deplorable campaign of the BJP, CPI(M) and Congress. This is for the first time we have won the Asansol seat. I would urge everyone to take maintain peace and not to fall prey to any kind of incitement,” said TMC president Mamata Banerjee.
BJP national vice president, Dilip Ghosh, however, alleged: “The by-election was not done in a free and fair manner and it cannot be tagged as the reflection of the people’s opinion. The voters who could have voted for the BJP were not allowed to come out of their houses. Votes were looted.”
In Bihar, RJD’S Amar Kumar Paswan defeated BJP’S Baby
Kumari by a margin of 36,617 votes in Bochahan, a reserved assembly segment. Bypoll to the seat was necessitated after the death of Paswan’s father Musafir Paswan.
RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav thanked the people for the win. “Hearty thanks to the public owners of Bochahan. People suffering from unemployment, inflation, and poor education, health, agriculture, and law and order in the assembly by-elections have done a just job of defeating the anti-people policies.”