Mamata wins crucial bypoll, Trinamool sweeps other two seats too

Kolkata, Oct 3: With West Bengal Chief minister Mamata Banerjee registering a thumping victory against BJP's Priyanka Tibrewal in Bhabanipur, Trinamool Congress won in all the three constituencies that went for elections on September 30.

Trinamool's Jakir Hossain and Amirul Islam won from Jangipur and Samserganj, respectively.

After 21 rounds of counting, Banerjee secured 85,263 of the total 118,580 votes, securing more than 71 per cent while Tibrewal secured 26,428 votes, little more than 22 per cent. CPI-M's Shreejib Biwas managed to get only 4,226 votes.

For Banerjee, it was a do or die battle to retain her position as the Chief Minister because she had lost to the BJP's Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram in the Assembly election earlier this year.

"I am indebted to the people to Bhabanipur because they helped me to win with a record margin. The most interesting thing is we didn't lose in any of the wards. The polling in Bhabanipur has always been low and there was rain. Despite that people came out in numbers and gave us votes," said Banerjee, flanked by nephew and party General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee and his daughter.

"There was a lot of conspiracy against us and the people of Bhabanipur have given the answer. When we won in all the seats, we lost in Nandigram. The matter is subjudice and so I shall not say more," she said, adding: "I shall not show victory signs raising two fingers. I am not selfish. Two of my colleagues are contesting from Jangipur and Samserganj and so I shall raise three fingers. They are also leading and blessing them so that they can win."

In Jangipur, Hossain won by a margin of 92,480 votes while Amirul Islam won by a margin of 26,379 votes in Samserganj.

Hossain secured 136,444 votes while his nearest rival Sujit Das of the BJP secured 43,964 votes. On the other hand, Amirul Islam secured 96,417 votes while his nearest rival Zaidur Rahaman from Congress secured 70,038 votes.

The BJP, however, cried foul.

Addressing the media, state BJP President Sukanta Majumdar said: "We need to understand that a large number of people couldn't come to vote or they were not allowed to come to vote. But one thing we should keep in mind... Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee thought that she would wipe out the BJP from Bhabanipur but that has not happened."

"We are overwhelmed by the support of the people - people who, despite all odds, have come out and voted for us. This will inspire us to fight with a new spirit in future. There are four by-elections in October and we hope that we will do better in these elections," he added.