Raiganj expected to witness a triangular fight this bypolls

Raiganj: A Triangular fight is expected among TMC, BJP and Congress in the Raiganj Assembly by-elections in North Dinajpur district.

Polling will be held on Wednesday. There are nine candidates in the fray.

Krishna Kalyani is contesting as TMC candidate, Manash Kumar Ghosh is contesting on a BJP ticket while Mohit Sengupta is contesting from Congress. Three of them had indulged in widespread campaigning.

In the 2021 Assembly elections, Krishna Kalyani contested as the BJP candidate from Raiganj and emerged victorious, defeating Kanaiyalal Agarwal of TMC with a margin of 20748 votes.

Krishna Kalyani (then BJP) received 79775 votes; Kanaiyalal Agarwal of TMC got 59027 and Mohit Sengupta of Congress obtained 17198 votes.

A few months after the win, Krishna Kalyani joined the TMC.

In the 2024 Parliamentary elections, TMC nominated Krishna Kalyani as their candidate for the Raiganj seat.

He had to resign from the post of MLA to fight for the Parliamentary seat as the TMC candidate. However, he was defeated by Kartick Chandra Paul with a margin of 68197 votes. Paul of BJP received 560897 and Krishna Kalyani got 492700 votes while Ali Imran Ramz of Congress managed 263273 votes.

In the Raiganj Assembly segment, Krishna Kalyani had lagged behind Paul by 46739 votes.

Krishna Kalyani said: “In Parliamentary elections, I had less preparation for contesting from Raiganj. So I was defeated. In the Assembly bypolls, I had enough time to reach out to all voters. People will vote for TMC for development.”

Manash Kumar Ghosh, the BJP candidate said: “In Parliamentary polls, our BJP candidate won from the Raiganj segment. So people will vote for BJP.”

Mohit Sengupta, The Congress candidate said: “Previously as a Congress MLA, I introduced so many developments in both rural and urban areas of Raiganj. We do believe that people will favour Congress from Raiganj.”