Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has won the Bhawanipore assembly by-election by a huge margin of 54,213 votes.
Despite a lesser number of votes polled, her winning margin is more than that of her cabinet colleague Subrata Bakshi, who won the seat last time with a margin of 49,000 votes.
The voter turnout then was more than 63 per cent whereas this time only 49 per cent of the 212,000 voters cast their votes — out of which more than 77 per cent voted for Banerjee.
Her party, the Trinamool Congress, has also snatched the Basirhat seat from the Left Front. Trinamool candidate A.T.M. Abdullah won the seat polling 30,941 votes more than his principal opponent Subid Ali Gazi of the CPI(M) who got 56,948 votes. This brought the Left Front tally in the state assembly down to 63 seats.
Both the wins have huge political significance since they prove that after being in power for four months, Mamata Banerjee's popularity has not diminished, as claimed by the CPI(M).
"I was just the candidate, but the actual face of this by-poll was our chief minister and people have once again shown faith in her," said Abdullah.
Banerjee told Gulf News: "I am grateful to the people of my constituency, especially since I did not get the time to campaign this time."
Despite a lesser number of votes polled, her winning margin is more than that of her cabinet colleague Subrata Bakshi, who won the seat last time with a margin of 49,000 votes.
The voter turnout then was more than 63 per cent whereas this time only 49 per cent of the 212,000 voters cast their votes — out of which more than 77 per cent voted for Banerjee.
Her party, the Trinamool Congress, has also snatched the Basirhat seat from the Left Front. Trinamool candidate A.T.M. Abdullah won the seat polling 30,941 votes more than his principal opponent Subid Ali Gazi of the CPI(M) who got 56,948 votes. This brought the Left Front tally in the state assembly down to 63 seats.
Both the wins have huge political significance since they prove that after being in power for four months, Mamata Banerjee's popularity has not diminished, as claimed by the CPI(M).
"I was just the candidate, but the actual face of this by-poll was our chief minister and people have once again shown faith in her," said Abdullah.
Banerjee told Gulf News: "I am grateful to the people of my constituency, especially since I did not get the time to campaign this time."
