Kolkata: With counting nearly halfway through, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is leading with over 42,000 votes in the Bhabanipur assembly constituency while Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Priyanka Tibrewal has received more than 10,000 votes.
According to the Election Commission website, Trinamool Congress has garnered 75.8 per cent of the total votes polled in Bhabanipur while BJP’s vote share stands at 19.6 per cent as of 1.30 pm Sunday.
Trinamool has also consolidated its position in two assembly seats in Murshidabad — Jangipur and Samserganj.
The party workers and supporters have already taken to the streets across the state in celebration of Banerjee’s anticipated win.
There will be 21 rounds of counting in Bhabanipur, while the two other constituencies in Murshidabad will have around 24 to 26 rounds.
The chief minister campaigned tirelessly for the bypoll in Bhabanipur, her home turf where Trinamool has been winning for the past 12 years.
Dubbed as “mini India’ by Banerjee in many of her speeches, nearly 40 per cent of the electorate in Bhabanipur is made up of Gujaratis, Marwaris, Sikhs and those from Bihar. Around 20 per cent are Muslims while the remaining 40 per cent are Bengalis.
Consequently, Banerjee’s win in the constituency was also a larger fight about projecting herself as a leader who believes in inclusivity.
Furthermore, as Trinamool shifts focus to the national stage by venturing into smaller states like Tripura and Goa, and then possibly the 2024 General Elections, the CM’s victory margin in Bhabanipur is expected to make the party’s foundation stronger.
According to early trends, Banerjee has already crossed the margin by which Trinamool leader Sovandeb Chatterjee won the seat in the assembly election in April.
Chatterjee won by 28,000 votes, getting around 57 per cent of the vote share while BJP’s Rudranil Ghosh received 35 per cent of the share.
Banerjee, who lost from the Nandigram constituency in the assembly elections earlier this year, has to win this by-poll to retain the chief minister’s post. Under Indian law, a minister has to get elected to the state assembly within six months of assuming charge.
Also read: Things changed because of her’ — Why Bhabanipur has voted for Mamata Banerjee since 2011
Establishing supremacy
Since Bhabanipur is a home turf for the Trinamool, winning it was not expected to be an issue for Banerjee. This also comes in the backdrop of the massive mandate her party received — winning 213 of 294 seats — during the assembly poll earlier this year.
However, this bypoll is expected to establish her supremacy as a leader in West Bengal, which will get consolidated with a high victory margin and limit the BJP to the lowest number possible.
“We always knew that Didi would win with a margin of over 50,000. We knew this election was going to be a 3-0 match. BJP will draw a blank. This is a symbolic victory to prove Didi’s supremacy in the state and it is our people’s answer to BJP,” Bengal minister Firhad Hakim, told ThePrint. Hakim was in charge of Bhabanipur.
Meanwhile, BJP’s party offices in central and south Kolkata wear a deserted look Sunday.
ThePrint tried reaching BJP MP Arjun Singh, who was in charge of Bhabanipur for a comment via call but his phone has been switched off. The party’s newly appointed state president, Sukanta Majumdar, meanwhile, remains busy with virtual organisational meetings.
Sreejib Biswas, Communist Party of India (Marxist)’s candidate, who carried out a lacklustre campaign in the constituency, has received 2.5 per cent of the vote share with over 1,500 votes.
Also read: Large rallies, Hindi songs, Tagore’s poems — Mamata’s high-voltage campaign to win Bhabanipur