TMC Headed For Clean Sweep In Bypolls, Shatrughan Sinha Leads By Over 2 Lakh Votes

As of 2PM, Shatrughan Sinha was leading with a whopping 5,45,818 votes over the BJP's Agnimitra Paul's 3,15,283 votes in Asansol. The BJP won the seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Shatrughan Sinha. (Source: Getty Images)

New Delhi: The Trinamool Congress is on its way to a clean sweep, having smashed competitors in the Asansol Lok Sabha seat, where movie actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha leads by an unassailable margin of about 2.3 lakh votes, while also outnumbering the CPI(M) in the famous Ballygunge district, news agency PTI reported.

As of 2 p.m., former Union minister and popular senior Bollywood star Shatrughan Sinha was leading with a whopping 5,45,818 votes over the BJP's Agnimitra Paul's 3,15,283 votes in Asansol. The BJP won the seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

In Ballygunge, TMC candidate and singer-turned-politician Babul Supriyo leads CPI (M) opponent Saira Shah Halim with 40,623 votes to Halim's 28,515 votes. Interestingly, the CPI(M) has surpassed the BJP's Keya Ghosh, who had previously received just 8,094 votes, providing validity to the Communist Party's assertion that it is on a resurrection road.

Supriyo resigned as MP of Asansol after transferring to the TMC from the BJP, while state minister Subrata Mukherjee, who represented Ballygunge, died last year, necessitating the by-elections on April 12.

West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee hailed voters in the Asansol Lok Sabha seat and the Ballygunge Assembly Constituency for handing TMC candidates a clear mandate in both by-elections.

"I sincerely thank the electors of the Asansol Parliamentary Constituency and the Ballygunge Assembly Constituency for giving decisive mandate to AITC party candidates," she tweeted.

I sincerely thank the electors of the Asansol Parliamentary Constituency and the Ballygunge Assembly Constituency for giving decisive mandate to AITC party candidates. (1/2)

— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) April 16, 2022

"We consider this to be our people's warm Shubho Nababarsho gift to our Ma- Mati- Manush organization. Salute to the voters for reposing faith in us, yet again," she added.

TMC leader Firhad Hakim blamed the BJP's bad performance on growing unemployment and pricing, as well as the central leadership's inaction, which he described as "Nero fiddling while Rome burned."

Supporters of TMC's Sinha and BJP's Paul exchanged 'Jai Bangla' and 'Jai Sri Ram' shouts before being halted by police.

According to BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar, the party in power in the state usually wins by-elections.

(With PTI Inputs)