West Bengal by-polls: TMC candidates Shatrughan Sinha, Babul Supriyo win in Asansol, Ballygunge

Kolkata, April 16

Trinamool Congress candidates won the bypolls in both Asansol Lok Sabha and Ballygunge Assembly constituencies on Saturday.

This is the first ever victory of a Trinamool candidate from Asansol since the creation of this Lok Sabha constituency.

In Ballygunge, TMC candidate Babul Supriyo defeated CPI (M)’s Saira Shah Halim by a margin of 20,228 votes. Supriyo garnered 51,199 votes against Halim’s 30,971 votes.

Interestingly, Halim has overtaken BJP’s Keya Ghosh who bagged just 13,220 votes, thus lending some credence to the communist party’s claim that it was on a revival path.

Kamruzzaman Choudhury of the Congress pocketed 5,218 votes.

The by-polls, which took place on April 12, were necessitated as Supriyo resigned as the MP of Asansol after switching over to the TMC from the BJP, while state minister Subrata Mukherjee, who represented Ballygunge, died last year.

In Asansol Lok Sabha bypolls, Trinamool nominee and actor-turned politician Shatrughan Sinha defeated his nearest rival, BJP’s Agnimitra Paul, by a huge margin of 3,03,209 lakh votes.

Sinha bagged 6,56,358 votes, while Paul managed to garner 3,53,149, according to Election Commission website.

CPI(M)’s Partha Mukherjee pocketed 90,412 votes and Prasenjit Puitandy of the Congress collected 15,035, it said.