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Journalism of Courage
In a clear sign that issues like the rape-and-murder case at the R G Kar Hospital had little impact, the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) Saturday swept the Assembly bypolls in West Bengal, winning all six seats with an increased margin while wresting the Madarihat seat from the BJP.
In Madarihat, a seat which the BJP had won by over 22,000 votes in 2016 and 29,685 votes in 2021, TMC’s Jayprakash Toppo defeated his nearest rival, Rahul Lohar of the BJP by 30,309 votes.
Sangita Roy, the TMC candidate in Sitai won by a margin of 1,30,156 votes, an improvement from the just over 10,000 vote margin in 2021 while Sanat Dey improved his margin from 18, 855 in 2021 to 48,912 in Naihati.
On the other hand in Haroa, Rabiul Islam of the TMC beat his nearest rival Piyarul Islam of the Indian Secular Front (ISF) by over 1.13 lakh votes, improving on his 2021 margin of 80,978 votes. The BJP finished second runner-up.
However, the TMC’s victory margin in Taldangra and Medinipur too saw spikes. Falguni Singhababu won the Taldangra bypoll by 34,082 votes while the winning margin in 2021 was 12,377. Similarly in Medinipur, TMC candidate Sujoy Hazra won by 33,996 votes while the winning margin in 2021 was 24,397 votes.
TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee took to social media to congratulate his party colleagues. “Congratulations to all six @AITCofficial candidates for their decisive victories in the WB bye elections, defying the narratives created by the ZAMINDARS, the media and a section of the Kol HC to defame Bengal for their own vested interests. A special thanks to the people of Madarihat for giving us the opportunity to serve you for the first time. I bow before the people of West Bengal for democratically dismantling the Bangla Birodhis, their fake narratives and reaffirming their trust in us,” he said in a post on X.
TMC MP Jagadish Chandra Basunia said: “The results are a slap on the face of those who politicised the R G Kar incident. The people have shown faith in Mamata Banerjee even as the BJP and Left tried to malign her.”
Conceding defeat, BJP state unit president Sukanta Majumder claimed that these results were expected in bypolls. “But we are hopeful that we will win the 2026 Assembly polls,” he said. Former state BJP president Dilip Ghosh said he was expecting this result.
Former BJP Madari MLA called for the party to introspect.
