Setback for BJP as TMC sweeps West Bengal bypolls

New Delhi, Nov 28: In a major blow to the BJP, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Thursday the ruling Trinamool Congress won all the three seats Kaliaganj, Kharagpur-Sadar and Karimpur assembly bypolls.

The loss in Kharagpur Sadar came as a shock for the BJP whose state president Dilip Ghosh was the MLA from there before he got elected to the Lok Sabha from Kharagpur. This is also TMC's first-ever win in Kaliaganj.

The development poses a strong challenge to the saffron party in the run-up to the 2021 assembly polls.

Tapan Deb Sinha of the Trinamool Congress won the Kaliaganj seat in a close contest, defeating his nearest BJP rival Kamal Chandra Sarkar by 2,418 votes. Congress's Paramathanath Roy had won the seat in the last assembly election. The party had fielded his daughter Dhritashree, who finished third.

TMC's Pradip Sarkar wrested Kharagpur Sadar seat from the BJP. He defeated Premchandra Jha of the saffron party by a comfortable margin of 20,788 votes.

Around 75.34 per cent of over 7 lakh electorate cast votes in the by-polls, amid allegations that TMC activists orchestrated an attack on the BJP candidate from Karimpur segment, Jay Prakash Majumdar.

Kharagpur Sadar and Karimpur seats fell vacant after the general elections as the sitting MLAs contested and won Lok Sabha seats.

In Kaliaganj, the polling was necessitated following the death of Congress MLA Parmathanath Roy.