Bhabanipur gives verdict in favour of 'Didi'; Mamata Banerjee wins by-polls with record margin

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], October 3 : Bhabanipur gave its verdict for Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee as she won the assembly constituency bypolls with a margin of over 58,000 votes.
According to the Election Commission of India, Mamata Banerjee secured 85,263 votes which is around 71.90 per cent of the total votes connected in the bye-elections.
Banerjee's main competition, BJP candidate Priyanka Tibrewal got 26,428 votes and CPI (M) candidate Srijib Biswas secured 4,226 votes.
"I have registered the victory in every ward of the constituency. I thank all the voters for the win. This is for the first time that we have not lost in a single ward in Bhabanipur," Banerjee said greeting supporters outside her residence in Kolkata.
She added that she will continue to work for the people.
The win was crucial for Banerjee, as she has to secure a legislative assembly seat by the first week of November and continue as the Chief Minister of West Bengal.
Notably, Mamata Banerjee was defeated by BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari in the Nandigram constituency in the Assembly elections held earlier this year.
Following this, the Bhabanipur Assembly seat was vacated by the West Bengal Agriculture Minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay in May, making way for West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to contest from Bhabanipur seat as a move to continue to hold her post.
Bharatiya Janata Party fielded 41-year-old Priyanka Tibrewal against the TMC chief.
A lawyer by profession, Tibrewal is the vice-president of the West Bengal unit of BJP Yuva Morcha. She is also the petitioner in the Calcutta High Court against the post-poll violence in the state. Notably, the High Court has ordered a CBI probe in violence in West Bengal after the Assembly elections.
On the other hand, CPI(M) fielded Srijib Biswas, also a lawyer by profession in the Bhabanipur constituency.
The counting of votes for by-elections in Bhabanipur, Jangipur, and Samserganj Assembly constituencies in West Bengal began at 8 am on Sunday amid tight security.
The total number of voters in Bhabanipur is 20,64,56; of which 1,11,243 are male and 95,209 are women. There were 287 booths in Bhabanipur, of which the number of main booths was 269.
The bypolls for Bhabanipur Assembly constituency took place on September 30.
Trinamool Congress had registered a landslide victory in assembly polls winning 213 of 294 seats in the West Bengal assembly. The BJP won 77 seats.