TMC sweeps bypolls in 2 wards of Bongaon, Asansol civic bodies
KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress (TMC) recorded a landslide victory in the civic by-election—the result of which was announced on Wednesday—in two wards of Bongaon and Asansol civic bodies, with the BJP and CPI(M) occupying distant second positions.
In Bongaon Municipality, Papai Raha of Trinamool got 2842 votes while Arup Kumar Pal of BJP got 724 votes and Dhritiman Pal of CPI(M) got 332 votes.
In Asansol Municipal Corporation, TMC's Bidhan Upadhyay got 6683 votes while Subhasis Mondol got 1206 votes and Sridip Chakraborty of BJP got 485 votes.
Claiming that the result showed that people have immense faith in party supremo Mamata Banerjee, Trinamool Congress MP Shantanu Sen said: "The result of the bypolls reflects the confidence of the people in Mamata Banerjee."
The by-election became necessary after Dilip Das, Trinamool candidate of ward 14 of Bongaon municipality died within a few days after the results of the civic election was out. In Asansol Municipal Corporation, Bidhan Upadhyay was made the Mayor. Upadhyay is a three-time MLA. To accommodate him, Sanjay Banerjee— the sitting councilor of ward 6— resigned. The by-election was held on August 21.
Asansol, which was a CPI(M) stronghold, had shifted its allegiance to BJP and in the 2014 and 2019 elections BJP candidate Babul Supriyo had won. Babul left the BJP and joined Trinamool. He is now the state IT minister. Trinamool Congress got control over the seat, when actor-turned politician Shatrughan Sinha defeated Agnimitra Paul of BJP by over 3 lakh votes.
In Asansol Municipal Corporation, Jitendra Tiwari—who was the Mayor— left Trinamool before the 2021 Assembly election and joined the BJP.
Amarnath Chattopadhyay was asked to head the civic body. Mamata Banerjee announced Upadhyay's name as the Mayor. He had to win the election to retain the seat.
Upadhyay said he would work to fulfill the dream of Mamata Banerjee. "Didi has made me the Mayor and I will work to fulfill her dream by providing better services to the people. I will cooperate with all party leaders to ensure better civic services," Upadhyay said.
Sameek Bhattacharya of BJP said Trinamool had won the election by intimidating the voters. "The result is not the reflection of the mind of the people," he maintained.
Political experts said both the BJP and CPI(M) had highlighted the corruption issues, citing the arrest of Partha Chatterjee and Anubrata Mondol. But the political campaign of CPI(M) and BJP had failed to yield any result and both the parties have been washed away.
