TMC wins all 4 seats in Bengal by-elections

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) won all four Assembly seats in the by-elections in Bengal on Saturday taking the tally of the party’s MLAs in the state Assembly to 219. Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee while reacting to her party’s clean sweep in the bypolls of all the four Assembly seats said that her party will continue to protect the culture of Bengal.

She also claimed that the “trend across India is against the BJP” as shown by the by-election results.

The INDIA bloc parties won 10 Assembly seats, while the BJP clinched two and an Independent one, as the votes were counted on Saturday for the by-elections held earlier this week in 13 seats in seven states.

“The trend across India is against the BJP,” she told reporters after arriving at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport here from Mumbai.

Asked whether this was an indicator that the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre may not last its full term, Banerjee said: “The trend is very clear, even earlier mandate (of Lok Sabha elections) was not in favour of NDA.”

She also added that she would dedicate the victory to the July 21 martyrs from her party’s rally in Dharmatala.

“Trinamool will continue to work for the people of Bengal, for their safety and security and to protect and nurture the culture of Bengal. We would like to dedicate our Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha victories to July 21 (the martyrs). We want to dedicate it to those who died fighting for their rights on that day,” Banerjee said. She also stated that people have voted for her party’s candidates despite many conspiracies.

“Despite many conspiracies, the people are coming out to cast their votes. It is to the credit of the people that they are standing up to the BJP and their different agencies. As a political party, social service and working for the people is our responsibility,” Banerjee added.

She also told the reporters that when the Assembly sessions begin, discussions would take place regarding two important issues — NEET and the new criminal laws.

Apart from Maniktala, all the other three seats belonged to the BJP and therefore the result came as a big blow to the BJP.

They lost three of their sitting seats ― Raiganj, Ranaghat Dakshin and Bagdah ― to the TMC.

The by-elections were necessitated after the BJP’s sitting MLAs resigned and unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha polls on TMC tickets.

“Three out of the four seats being contested this time were won by BJP both during Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha. Not only have we retained our seat, but also won the other three. It is four out of four. We express our gratitude to the people. This is a victory of the people,” Banerjee said.

The ruling party in Bengal had a clean sweep in the bypolls in Bagdah, Ranaghat Dakshin, Maniktala and Raiganj. Madhuparna Thakur — who is on the threshold of becoming the youngest MLA in the history of Bengal— is the daughter of TMC Rajya Sabha MP Mamata Bala Thakur. Madhuparna contested the bypolls from Bagdah on a TMC ticket and won by a margin of about 33,468 votes.

BJP’s Biswajit Das had won the Assembly polls from Bagdah in 2021. However, he joined the TMC after the elections, paving the way for the bypolls in Bagdah.

“The by-elections that were held today in Ranaghat, Bagda, Manicktala and Raiganj have a political importance. Only the Manicktala seat belonged to us. However, due to a court case that has been going on for 2 years, the elections were not conducted here. Supti Pande’s victory is a very good thing,” Banerjee said adding “A month ago, Krishna Kalyani was all set to win the Raiganj seat in the Lok Sabha elections. However, the BJP paid money to the Congress to split the votes and make him lose. I had assured him that he needed to contest again and will surely win. He had accepted the challenge and today the people have supported him whole-heartedly.”

Banerjee further stated: “In Ranaghat, the situation is the same with Mukut Mani Adhikari. He used to be a BJP MLA but is now with us. There was a lot of campaigning done against him with zero relief from the Election Commission and that’s why he lost. However, he used to be a BJP MLA and is now a TMC MLA.”

Regarding Bagdah bypolls, she said: “Biswajit had lost the Gaighata seat. I wanted him to continue but he promised me that he will contest again later and wants to take a break now. That is when we gave the ticket to Madhuparna Thakur, daughter of Mamata Bala Thakur and she is our youngest candidate. She gave a very good fight in the area and the people have given her their support.”