Kolkata, Jun 4 (PTI) BJP’s Tamluk constituency candidate Abhijit Gangopadhyay was ahead of his nearest rival Trinamool Congress’ Debangshu Bhattacharya by 59,570 votes, Election Commission officials said.
Gangopadhyay, who joined the BJP immediately after resigning as a judge of the Calcutta High Court, stirred political debates with his rulings on various education-related issues in the state.
As a high court judge, he had issued several orders instructing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to probe allegations of irregularities in the recruitment processes of teaching and non-teaching staff in West Bengal government-sponsored and -aided schools.
His orders garnered appreciation from diverse segments of society, particularly aspiring candidates for school jobs. However, his remarks in specific cases also stirred dissatisfaction among certain leaders of the ruling party in the state.
It is a prestige fight for both the TMC and the BJP to win the Tamluk constituency, which includes Nandigram, where an anti-land acquisition movement in 2007 against the then Left Front government was instrumental in the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress’ rise to power in Bengal in 2011.
Banerjee’s then close aide Suvendu Adhikari, now her chief political opponent, was declared the winner by the Election Commission from Nandigram against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the 2021 assembly elections. An election petition by Banerjee challenging Adhikari’s victory is pending before the Calcutta High Court. PTI AMR MNB
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