Mamata Banerjee wins Bhabanipur by-poll big margin

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday won the bypoll to Bhabanipur seat by a margin of 58,832 votes.

After claiming victory from her home turf, Banerjee said, “It is a victory against the conspiracy that was hatched to defeat me from Nandigram. I thank the people of Bhabanipur for giving me such a huge mandate.”

The Trinamool Congress is also leading in the other two seats of Murshidabad district.

The counting of votes to the crucial bypoll to the Bhabanipur seat in south Kolkata, where TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee is contesting to retain her chief minister’s seat, kicked off at 8 am amid heavy security deployment. Votes are also being counted for the bye-elections held in Jangipur and Samserganj assembly constituencies in the Murshidabad district of the state and the Pipili constituency in Odisha.

24 companies of central forces have been deployed at the counting centres and the entire area will be put under CCTV surveillance.

Babanipur, which went to the polls on September 30, saw a modest turnout of 53.32 per cent. The two other Assembly seats in the state, however, reported a higher turnout. Samserganj recorded 78.60 per cent voter turnout, while Jangipur 76.12 per cent till 5 pm, as per Election Commission data.

Voting was largely peaceful, and no major incident of violence or electoral malpractice was reported, EC officials said. The poll body said it received 97 complaints, of which 91 were quashed. Of these 97 complaints, 85 were related to the Bhabanipur by-poll.