Incumbent Trinamool Congress leader and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is leading by a wide margin in the by-elections to the Bhabanipur constituency in the West Bengal Assembly.
The counting of votes started at 8 am local time on Sunday. A total of 21 rounds will be counted. As the count progresses, Mamata’s vote gap is widening.
The by-election results will be announced today. The result will determine whether West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will remain in office.
At the end of the fourth round of counting, Mamata went ahead with 12,435 votes.Advertising
Mamata Banerjee contested the Nandigram constituency in East Midnapore in this year’s West Bengal Assembly elections. His opponent was Subhendu Adhikari, who joined the BJP from the Trinamool. Mamata lost to Shuvendu by 1,957 votes.
Although Mamata lost in Nandigram, the Trinamool Congress made her the chief minister in accordance with the constitution. The constitutional rule is that Mamata must win one of the assembly seats in the state within six months.
Shobhandev Chattopadhyay, the elected Trinamool leader of Bhabanipur, resigned to win Mamata from Bhabanipur constituency. The Bhabanipur seat became vacant. Mamata contested the by-election of that seat.
The by-election was held on September 30 in Bhabanipur. The results will be announced today after the counting of votes in the by-elections. Mamata won this seat in the 2011 and 2016 assembly elections.
12 candidates contested in the by-elections. However, the main battle is between Trinamool candidate Mamata and BJP candidate Priyanka Tibrewal.
Trinamool is optimistic about winning. According to them, Mamata will win the by-election. He will be in the chair of the Chief Minister.
On the other hand, the BJP is not giving up hope of victory. The party claims that Mamata may not be what she thinks she is. All reckoning of the grassroots can be reversed. Their candidate Priyanka can win.
During the campaign, the Trinamool repeatedly announced that it would lose the Mamata to BJP candidate Priyanka in a record number of votes in this by-election. Mamata will win by a margin of at least one lakh votes.
But the turnout disappointed the grassroots. In the by-election of Bhabanipur constituency 58 percent votes were cast. 2 lakh 8 thousand 458 voters in this constituency.
After the September 30 vote, Firhad Hakim, chief administrator of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation and state transport minister, said Mamata would win by a margin of 60,000 votes.
Votes for two more by-elections are being counted today. These two seats are Jangipur and Shamserganj in Murshidabad district. Trinamool is optimistic about winning both these seats.