New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee reclaimed the Bhabanipur assembly seat by winning with a huge margin of over 58,000 votes against BJP contender Priyanka Tibrewal. The thumping victory for the TMC leader secured her position as the chief minister of West Bengal.
The Bhabanipur by-poll remained a prestige battle for Banerjee, who was not an MLA and had to become a member of the state legislature by November 5.
After registering the huge victory, Mamata Banerjee said, "Since the elections started in Bengal, Central Govt hatched conspiracies to remove us (from power). I was hurt in my feet so that I don't contest the polls. I am grateful to the public for voting for us & to ECI for conducting polls within 6 months."
Mamata Banerjee further said that she has registered the victory in every ward of the constituency.
The West Bengal CM said, "Around 46% of people here (in Bhabanipur) are non-Bengalis. They all have voted for me. People of West Bengal are watching Bhabanipur, which has inspired me."
As per ECI's website, the margin of votes between Mamata Banerjee and Priyanka Tibrewal is 58,835. Mamata in total received 85,263 votes whereas her BJP challenger got 26,428 votes.
TMC had begun celebrations outside Mamata Banerjee's residence as the West Bengal CM emerged victorious in Bhabanipur. Counting started early morning in three assembly constituencies in Bengal -Bhabanipur, Jangipur, and Samserganj, in the morning.
There were 21 rounds of counting of votes in the Bhabanipur constituency where BJP's Priyanka Tibrewal and CPM’s Srijib Biswas have been pitted against the chief minister. The poll body arranged for a three-tier security system and deployed 24 companies of central forces at the time of counting.
The Bhabanipur assembly constituency registered over 57 per cent polling while a high voting rate of 79.92 per cent and 77.63 per cent was recorded in Samserganj and Jangipur, respectively. The bypoll in Bhabanipur was called following the resignation of Banerjee's party leader Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, who stepped down to make way for her.
A total of 6,97,164 voters were eligible to exercise their franchise in the three constituencies.
Despite Trinamool Congress's tremendous victory in the assembly polls held during March-April, Mamata Banerjee lost the battle from Nandigram against Suvendu Adhikari, her former aide who joined the BJP in the run up to the elections.