West Bengal bye-elections results 2019: TMC plays up NRC role in bypoll wins, BJP candidate agrees

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“In 21 years since the formation of our party, we never won either Kharagpur Sadar or Kaliaganj seats. I want to thank all the people for this victory. From leaders and workers, all have worked day and night to make this happen. This will only make us humble and work for the people in the days to come,” Mamata said.

“In the Lok Sabha polls, EVMs were manipulated. Still we have overcome (BJP’s) huge leads in Kharagpur and Kaliaganj seats and doubled our lead in Karimpur. In the name of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the BJP has created panic among the people. Workers from Bengal are killed in Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh. There are no jobs for youths in Bengal. It is a victory against BJP’s arrogance and desperation to come to power. We have received votes from Bengalis and non-Bengalis as well,” she said.

West Bengal bye-elections results 2019: The BJP office in Kolkata wears a deserted look on Thursday. (Express Photo: Shashi Ghosh)

In what was described as a prestige fight between the two parties, the TMC successfully wrested Kharagpur Sadar Assembly seat from the BJP after its candidate Pradip Sarkar defeated BJP’s Prem Chandra Jha by a margin of 20,811 votes. The Kharagpur Sadar seat fell vacant after BJP state president Dilip Ghosh won the Lok Sabha polls from Medinipur seat in May.

Similarly, in the Kaliaganj Assembly seat, the BJP had a lead of 57,000 votes in Lok Sabha polls. Following a neck-and-neck fight, TMC candidate Tapan Deb Singha managed to defeat BJP’s Kamal Chandra Sarkar by a slim margin of 2,414 votes.

“I am very happy with the victory. From state-level leaders to booth level workers, everyone made an enormous effort to win this seat. People believed in the development of Mamata Banerjee government. Besides, people have lost their faith in BJP. The NRC, too, was a factor which went against the saffron party,” said Singha.

Following his defeat, BJP candidate Kamal Chandra Sarkar admitted that the NRC issue cost them the Kaliaganj seat. “The NRC landed a big blow on us. It was our weakness. Now we are realising that people were frightened with the NRC issue. We could not make them understand the issue properly,” said Sarkar.

In Karimpur seat, TMC candidate Bimalendu Singha Roy defeated BJP’s Jay Prakash Majumdar. In the Lok Sabha polls, the ruling party had a lead of over 14,000 votes from here.

In the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had won 18 seats from 2 seats in 2014 while the TMC won 22 seats from 34 seats in 2014. However, within six months from the general election, the BJP failed to repeat its electoral success. The party lost its state president’s seat and failed to win Kaliaganj seat while it is also trailing in Karimpur seat as well.

Congratulating the people for rejecting the BJP in all three Assembly seats, TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee said, “It is a victory of the people and shows their faith in the leadership of Mamata Banerjee. People have put up a resistance against the BJP government’s poor economic policies and joblessness across the state. People have voted against politics along religious lines and BJP’s attempt to divide the people. NRC was definitely an issue which people rejected. Providing people protection is more important than describing them as non citizens.”