TMC sweeps Bengal bypolls, BJP takes 2nd spot, Congress biggest loser
In the Uluberia seat, TMCs's Sajda Ahmed defeated BJP's candidate Anupam Mallik by over 4.5 lakh votes.
Kolkata: West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress on Thursday snatched the Noapara Assembly seat from the Congress and retained the Uluberia parliamentary constituency. Continuing its good run in the state, BJP took the second place in both the constituencies.
However, it was the Congress which emerged as the biggest loser. The party came fourth and lost its deposit in both seats.
In the Uluberia seat, TMCs’s Sajda Ahmed defeated BJP’s candidate Anupam Mallik by over 4.5 lakh votes.
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The Congress, which had come fourth in the 2014 parliament elections with 67,826 votes, could win only 23,168 votes.
In Noapara, TMC candidate Sunil Singh secured 1,01,729 votes while BJP nominee Sandip Banerjee received 38,711 votes. Gargi Chatterjee of the CPI (M) came third with 35,497 votes.
For the BJP, the results re-assert party chief Amit Shah's claim that it is now the state's main opposition party. Last year, it came second in a bye-election for the Kanthi South assembly seat and in 2016, at the Cooch Behar Lok Sabha seat.
The by-elections were necessitated following the deaths of Sultan Ahmed, TMC MP from Uluberia Lok Sabha constituency in Howrah district, and Madhusudan Ghose, Congress MLA from Noapara assembly seat in North 24 Parganas district.
(With inputs from agency)