Bypoll 2022: TMC sweeps Bengal as Shatrughan Sinha & Babul Supriyo register massive victory

April 16: It was a great set back for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday as the ruling party lost in all the 5 seats during the bypoll. The bypoll was held for Asansol & Ballygunge in West Bengal, Maharashtra’s Kolhapur North, Chhattisgarh’s Khairagarh and Bochahan in Bihar. The two seats in West bengal were won by the TMC; RJD won the Bochahan seat in Bihar, whereas the Congress won Khairagarh seat in Chhhattisgarh and also the Kohlapur North seat in in Maharashtra.

In Asansol, former Union minister turned TMC candidate Shatrughan Sinha emerged victorious by a massive margin of 3,03,209 votes while BJP MLA turned party candidate Agnimitra Paul came second. Sinha bagged 6,56,358 votes while Paul got 3,53,149 votes.

Taking to his twitter handle, Shatrughan Sinha wrote, “My most sincere thanks to the wonderful people of Asansol for their massive expression of support to me. I am overwhelmed and also humbled by the love and affection showered on me by the lovely people of Asansol, Bengal…..and feel both delighted and blessed at the same time for yet another victory with yet another record margin. I am indebted to the great leader, the great woman, the great human being – Mamata Banerjee, for reposing her faith in me and am very happy that we have lived up to her expectations… We now look forward to living up to the expectations of the people also. Thank you Asansol, thank you Bengal. Jai Bengal, Jai Hind.”

My most sincere thanks to the wonderful people of Asansol for their massive expression of support to me.
I am overwhelmed and also humbled by the love and affection showered on me by the lovely people of Asansol, Bengal…..and feel both delighted and blessed at the same time…

— Shatrughan Sinha (@ShatruganSinha) April 16, 2022

In Ballygunge, Babul Supriyo, now a TMC candidate, won the Assembly constituency in south Kolkata by a margin of 20,228 votes. The CPM here stood second while the BJP emerged a distant third. Out of the total votes polled, Supriyo bagged 51,199 votes while CPM candidate Saira Shah Halim got 30,971 votes. BJP candidate Keya Ghosh received 13,220 votes and lost her deposit.

Thank you #Ballygunge 🙏
Thank you #Asansol 🙏 I was confident #PoeticJustice will prevail & the next MP from Asansol will be from @AITCofficial & I will be back to serve you along with your Dashing New affable cordial ever smiling Hon'ble MP @ShatruganSinha ji ❤️🙏🤗

— Babul Supriyo (@SuPriyoBabul) April 16, 2022

Rejoicing at the victory of TMC, the party supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee tweeted, “I sincerely thank the electors of the Asansol Parliamentary Constituency and the Ballygunge Assembly Constituency for giving decisive mandate to AITC party candidates. 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.”

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

Following the defeat, BJP’s tally of Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal has now come down to 17. The saffron camp had won 18 seats in Bengal in 2019.

Meanwhile, the  Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) won the Bochahan seat by over 35,000 votes. RJD candidate Amar Paswan defeated his BJP rival Baby Kumari. The ruling Congress won the Khairagarh seat in Chhhattisgarh with more than 20,000 votes. The Congress won the Kolhapur North in Maharashtra seat by more than 18,000 votes. Congress candidate Jayashri Jadhav defeated Satyajit Kadam of the Bharatiya Janata Party.