'Unity over hate politics', says Mamata Banerjee as TMC heads for 4-0 clean sweep in Bengal bypolls

Kolkata: The ruling Trinamool Congress on Tuesday headed for a clean sweep as it took massive irreversible leads in all four by-elections held last Saturday, according to updates by the Election Commission. The counting of votes to Khardah, Santipur, Gosaba and Dinhata which began at 8 am amid tight security showed that the TMC was set for landslide wins in two constituencies including Dinhata which had returned BJP’s Minister of State for Home Nisith Pramanik in elections held earlier this year, where the leads were over 1.4 lakh and respectable wins in two others. Although the EC is yet to announce the final results, West Bengal chief minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee quickly congratulated her party candidates for the “victory”. “My heartiest congratulations to all the four winning candidates! This victory is people’s victory, as it shows how Bengal will always choose development and unity over propaganda and hate politics. With people’s blessings, we promise to continue taking Bengal to greater heights!” she said in a twitter post. In Dinhata in Coochbehar district, TMC’s Udayan Guha was way ahead of his nearest rival, BJP’s Ashok Mandal, by a massive margin of 1,40,326 votes. After 16 rounds, Guha secured 1,61.171 votes, whereas Mandal bagged just 20,845 votes. After all the 16 rounds of counting, the TMC was ahead of its rival BJP in the Gosaba Assembly segment in South 24 Parganas by an impressive margin of 1,41,893 votes. TMC’s Subrata Mondal secured 1,60,231votes, whereas BJP’s Palash Rana, the nearest rival, garnered a mere 18,338votes. In Santipur, famous for its handloom industry which had turned into a BJP citadel in the Assembly elections held earlier this year, TMC’s Braja Kishore Goswami led over his nearest rival - BJP’s Niranjan Biswas - by a margin of 41,364 votes. Goswami bagged 77,555 votes, whereas Biswas bagged 36,191 votes after the twelfth round. In the Khardah segment, state minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay was again way ahead of BJP’s Joy Saha by a margin of 84,091 votes. After the fourteenth round, Chattopadhyay secured 1,02,211 votes, whereas Das bagged just 18,120 votes. The polls are being held amidst tight security and strict Covid protocols. Officials said that besides imposing section 144 on a 100-metre radius of counting venues, there is a tight three-tier security layer around them. The bypolls were necessitated as the BJP MLAs for Dinhata and Santipur resigned to retain their MP seats while the TMC legislators of Kharadah and Gosaba died.