Tag: Srijib Biswas

  • Bengal bypolls: Mamata leading in Bhawanipore, Priyanka Tibrewal in second position

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was leading by 2,377 votes in the Bhawanipore bypoll after the second round of counting on Sunday morning, as per the Election Commission.

    Banerjee, the TMC candidate in Bhawanipore, secured 5,333 votes, as per official data after the second round of counting.

    Her nearest rival, BJP’s Priyanka Tibrewal, secured 2,956 votes, while Srijib Biswas of the CPI(M) secured 132 votes.

    Total 21 rounds of counting will be held in Bhawanipore.

    Voting in the seat in south Kolkata was held on September 30.

    Banerjee has to win this election to retain her chief minister’s post.

  • Bengal bypolls: Mamata Banerjee wins Bhowanipore by-election, Trinamool ahead in two Murshidabad seats too

    By Express News Service

    KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has won the Bhowanipore by-election by a margin of 58,389 votes.

    Banerjee, the TMC candidate for the Bhabanipur seat in south Kolkata, secured 84,709 votes, after 21st and final round of counting.

    Mamata broke her party’s victory margin record of 49,936 votes in 2011 Assembly elections, the year she derailed LF’s 34-year regime.

    The TMC was also leading in Murshidabad’s Samserganj and Jangipur where counting of votes for assembly elections was underway.

    ALSO READ: BJP’s Priyanka Tibrewal writes to HC over fear of violence after result declaration

    Banerjee, the TMC candidate for the Bhabanipur seat in south Kolkata, secured 84,709 votes.

    Her nearest rival, BJP’s Priyanka Tibrewal, secured 26,320 votes, while Srijib Biswas of the CPI(M) secured 4201 votes.

    Although Banerjee claimed victory in a press conference outside her residence, the EC is yet to officially announce the results as they are yet to compile the votes secured through postal ballots.

    “I want to thank the people of Bhabanipur, West Bengal and West Bengal, who were waiting for these results. The people of Bhabanipur have given a befitting reply to the conspiracy that was hatched to defeat me in Nandigram. I don’t want to say much on a sub-judice matter. The counting is over, and we have won the seat by a margin of 58832 votes,” she said.

    ALSO READ: EC asks Bengal chief secy to ensure no celebration over Bhawanipore bypoll results

    The chief minister had earlier lost the Nandigram elections narrowly to her former aide Suvendu Adhikari, now leader of the opposition from the BJP in the state assembly.

    She has since filed a legal challenge to the election result.

    After Banerjee’s defeat in Nandigram, Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, a state minister, vacated the Bhabanipur seat to facilitate her return to the assembly from there.

    The TMC is also ahead in Murshidabad’s Samserganj and Jangipur constituencies, where votes are being counted for the assembly elections.

    In Samserganj, TMC candidate Amirul Islam is leading by 25 195 votes after the twenty-two round of counting.

    WATCH |

    He secured 91826 votes, while his nearest rival, Zaidur Rahaman of the Congress, got 66,631.

    Jangipur’s TMC nominee Jakir Hossain is leading by a massive margin of 64,529 votes after the twenty-one rounds of counting.

    Hossain secured 1,00,560 votes, and his nearest rival, BJP’s Sujit Das, got 36, 031.

    As reports of Banerjee’s massive lead came in, TMC supporters hit streets across the state to celebrate.

    On the other side, the state offices of the BJP and the CPI (M) wore a deserted look.

    Voting in the seats was held on September 30.

    (With PTI Inputs)

  • Bengal bypolls: Mamata Banerjee wins Bhowanipore by record margin

    By Express News Service

    KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday secured stunning victory from Bhowanipore breaking all the records of Trinamool Congress’ victory margin since the constituency’s inception in 2011 after delimitation. She secured victory with a margin of 58,835 votes with BJP’s Priyanka Tibrewal trailing behind.

    “The verdict of Bhowanipore was a reply to the conspiracy that was hatched against me in Nandigram. The Nandigram election result is pending with the court. I secured lead from all the wards of the civic body in Bhowanipore,” said Mamata standing on the courtyard of her residence in Kalighat along with her family members.

    The TMC won two other Assembly constituencies, Samsherganj and Jangipur, where general elections were held after candidates died of Covid. The BJP candidate Milan Ghosh lost her deposit in minority-dominated Samsherganj while the Left Front’s candidates lost their deposits in all three seats.

    Mamata’s victory in Bhowanipore is said to be significant as she needed to get elected as an MLA to retain the chair of the administrative head of the state after her defeat in Nandigram in the recent Assembly elections. When the Bengal CM got 71.9 per cent of the total votes polled, her contender and BJP’s Priyanka bagged 22.17 per cent votes.

    Mamata’s reference to leading in all the municipal wards in Bhowanipore was found significant as the BJP secured lead from two of the pockets in the constituency in the recent Assembly polls which are dominated by non-Bengali voters who form around 40 per cent of the total electorates. When the BJP trusted their non-Bengali vote-bank in the by-election, Mamata made it clear that she made deep inroads in the saffron camp’s citadel.

    “She (Mamata) broke all records in Bhowanipore. In 2011, our candidate won by 49,936 votes and in the by-election Mamata won with a margin of 54,213 votes. This time, she broke her own record,’’ said a senior TMC leader.  

    Welcoming Mamata’s victory, BJP’s state president Sukanta Majumdar said, “Around 57 per cent of the voters turned up at the polling booths. It shows a large number of voters either did not exercised their franchise or they were not allowed to. We welcome those who supported our candidate and we will contest in the by-elections in the four Assembly constituencies which will be held on October 30,’’ he said.

    Congress state president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the poor turnout of voters showed a majority of the people in Bhowanipore had no interest in the by-election.

    While welcoming the verdict of Bhowanipore’s voters, Mamata announced candidates for four Assembly constituencies—Khardah, Shantipur, Dinhata and Gosaba—where by-poll will be held on October 30. Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, who won from Bhowanipore in the Assembly elections but tendered resignation to pave the way for Mamata, will contest from Khardah.

    ALSO READ: BJP’s Priyanka Tibrewal writes to HC over fear of violence after result declaration

    Her nearest rival, BJP’s Priyanka Tibrewal, secured 26,320 votes, while Srijib Biswas of the CPI(M) secured 4201 votes.

    Although Banerjee claimed victory in a press conference outside her residence, the EC is yet to officially announce the results as they are yet to compile the votes secured through postal ballots.

    “I want to thank the people of Bhabanipur, West Bengal and West Bengal, who were waiting for these results. The people of Bhabanipur have given a befitting reply to the conspiracy that was hatched to defeat me in Nandigram. I don’t want to say much on a sub-judice matter. The counting is over, and we have won the seat by a margin of 58832 votes,” she said.

    ALSO READ: EC asks Bengal chief secy to ensure no celebration over Bhawanipore bypoll results

    The chief minister had earlier lost the Nandigram elections narrowly to her former aide Suvendu Adhikari, now leader of the opposition from the BJP in the state assembly.

    She has since filed a legal challenge to the election result.

    After Banerjee’s defeat in Nandigram, Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, a state minister, vacated the Bhabanipur seat to facilitate her return to the assembly from there.

    WATCH |

    He secured 91826 votes, while his nearest rival, Zaidur Rahaman of the Congress, got 66,631.

    Jangipur’s TMC nominee Jakir Hossain is leading by a massive margin of 64,529 votes after the twenty-one rounds of counting.

    Hossain secured 1,00,560 votes, and his nearest rival, BJP’s Sujit Das, got 36, 031.

    As reports of Banerjee’s massive lead came in, TMC supporters hit streets across the state to celebrate.

    On the other side, the state offices of the BJP and the CPI (M) wore a deserted look.

    Voting in the seats was held on September 30.

    (With PTI Inputs)

  • Bhowanipore set for unequal battle as CM Mamata Banerjee faces ‘lightweight’ rivals

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Having emerged as the face of opposition resistance to the Narendra Modi juggernaut after the Trinamool Congress’ triumph in the assembly elections, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is locked in an unequal battle as she squares off with “lightweight” rivals in her own lair–Bhowanipore.

    Banerjee, who described herself as an “injured tigress” after an incident on the campaign trail in Nandigram which left her with a plastered foot, and was licking her wounds following her defeat at the hands of one-time protege Suvendu Adhikari, will likely roar back to victory, those watching the electoral battle unfold in the constituency feel.

    She is pitted in the by-poll against Priyanka Tibrewal of the BJP and CPM’s Srijib Biswas.

    Tibrewal, whom the state BJP president Dilip Ghosh called a “fearless soul”, is a lawyer and one of the petitioners in a string of PILs filed against the TMC government over incidents of violence that rocked West Bengal after the assembly elections in March-April this year, but has nothing to show by way of political accomplishments.

    She had contested the assembly election from Entally and lost. Biswas is a political greenhorn. For the BJP, political analysts say, the battle for Bhabanipur is more about retaining its 35 per cent vote share than winning the seat.

    For the once mighty Left, it’s about proving it is still alive if not kicking in a state which it ruled for 34 years without a break. For the redoubtable Mamata Banerjee, it is not only about exacting revenge for her defeat in Nandigram but her larger ambition to play a key role in shaping the opposition’s future in national politics.

    The Congress, after initial prevarication, decided not to field a candidate against Banerjee and also stay away from campaigning. Both the Congress and the Left, which fought the assembly elections in alliance, had drawn a blank.

    “Bhabanipur Nijer Ghorer Meyekei chai (Bhabanipur wants her own daughter)” has become the battle cry for the TMC rank and file as they have plunged headlong into the campaign for the 66-year-old Banerjee, a resident of Bhabanipur.

    Banerjee had won the seat twice in 2011 and 2016 but shifted to Nandigram, where the anti-farmland acquisition movement against the Left Front government had transformed her into a major political force in the volatile state, to dare BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, now the Leader of the Opposition, on his home turf.

    She now must win Bhabanipur to ensure an unbroken stint as the chief minister. Banerjee is required to win a seat in the state assembly by November 5 in conformity with the constitutional provisions to continue as chief minister.

    The Constitution allows a non-member of a state legislature or Parliament to continue in a ministerial position without getting elected only for six months. After her defeat in Nandigram, Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, state cabinet minister and TMC MLA from Bhabanipur, vacated the seat to facilitate her return to the assembly from there.

    “For us, victory is not an issue. That Mamata Banerjee will win this seat is a foregone conclusion, even the opposition parties know that. Our target is to ensure a victory by a record margin. The people have decided to elect the chief minister by a record margin to avenge the conspiracy that was hatched in Nandigram,” senior minister and TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee told PTI.

    Top leaders like Chatterjee, Firhad Hakim and Subrata Bakshi have been deployed to manage the campaign in the constituency in Kolkata with eight municipal wards, two of which have sizeable Muslim population which has stood firm behind the TMC supremo through times good and bad.

    “We are happy that Didi is back in our constituency. It is a matter of pride for us that the CM is our neighbour,” said Pradyut Roy, a Bhabanipur resident, reflecting the resonance “Bhabanipur Nijer Ghorer Meyekei chai” slogan has found with the local people.

    “Everybody knows who will win. But we want civic issues to be addressed, especially during the rains, as early as possible,” said another voter. Chattopadhyay had won Bhabanipur for the TMC defeating his BJP rival by more than 28,000 votes.

    Smarting under the assembly poll defeat and defection of its MLAs to the TMC thereafter, the BJP, had a tough time finding a candidate for the by-poll. “Most senior leaders were unwilling to fight the by-poll against Mamata Banerjee and that too from Bhabanipur. We have to ensure that our vote share remains intact and rather increases,” a senior BJP leader said, requesting not to be named.

    Tibrewal is, however, confident about her victory and has decided to make post-poll violence a major poll plank. “Mamata Banerjee is fighting this election to save the chief minister’s chair. My task will be to reach out to the people of the constituency and inform them about the atrocities, torture and violence that her party unleashed on opposition workers after the assembly polls. I am confident that people of Bhabanipur will vote for me and defeat her,” Tibrewal, state vice president of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), said.

    Left Front candidate Srijib Biswas said the alleged lack of development under Banerjee will be a key issue in the by-poll. “Our fight is against both the TMC and the BJP. We will highlight how there has been no development in the state in the last 10 years,” he said.

    A metropolitan constituency with around two lakh voters, Bhabanipur is home to a sizeable number of Gujaratis, Sikh and Biharis living alongside Bengalis. For a long time after it was created in 1952, the constituency was a bastion of the Congress.

    The constituency ceased to exist after the 1977 delimitation but revived in 2011. The TMC has won the seat in all the three assembly elections that were held there ever since. However, in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had led from the assembly segment which is a part of the Kolkata South Lok Sabha constituency, which Banerjee has won six times.

    The BJP managed to take a lead in the assembly segment in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls as non-Bengali voters plumped for it, but failed to maintain a grip on the sizeable Sikh and Punjabi population in the 2021 assembly elections following the farmers’ agitation in Punjab.

    “The Bhabanipur assembly by-poll is a battle of the unequal. On one hand you have Bengal’s most heavyweight politician and on the other two political lightweights. The TMC is fighting to secure a record margin. The BJP, whose own house is in complete chaos, is fighting to retain their vote share. The Left is fighting to make its presence felt,” said political analyst Biswanath Chakraborty.

    Another political analyst Suman Bhattacharya concurred, and said it is of great significance that the Congress has decided not to field a candidate against Banerjee or campaign against her for the first time. “This poll is also a sort of litmus test for national opposition unity as two major players– Congress and the TMC– have decided to virtually come together to take on the BJP,” he said.