Kolkata: Trinamool candidate Sayantika Banerjee was on the verge of winning the Baranagar Assembly bypoll after a breathtaking roller-coaster of fortunes during a close counting battle which saw the candidates edging ahead of each other by slender margins only to fall back again.
Banerjee won by a margin of 8,148 votes over BJP’s Sajal Ghosh. Banerjee got 69,251 votes while Ghosh received 61,103 votes.CPM candidate Tanmoy Bhattacharya had polled 26,735 votes.
Baranagar saw a close fight from the start between Banerjee and Ghosh. If Ghosh led in one round, the next saw Banerjee sail ahead. The nerve-wracking counting sessions continued through the day with neither managing a comfortable lead that kept getting wiped out with each round. But after the sixth round, Banerjee started leading over Ghosh and it went up with every subsequent round .
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee recently stated that she had full faith on Sayantika. “People don’t trust those who keep changing political parties. I appreciate those workers who have remained in the Trinamool fold,” Banerjee said, in an indirect reference to former TMC leader and Baranagar MLA Tapas Ray, who defected to BJP before the elections. The defection had necessitated the bypoll.
Lok Sabha ElectionsAssembly ElectionsParty ViewAlliance View.cls-1, .cls-2, .cls-3 { fill: none; } .cls-1, .cls-4, .cls-5, .cls-6 { stroke-width: 0px; } .cls-2 { stroke: #b17979; stroke-miterlimit: 10; stroke-width: 1.2px; } .cls-2, .cls-3 { stroke-linecap: round; } .cls-7 { fill: #595959; font-family: Verdana, Verdana; font-size: 10px; } .cls-7, .cls-8, .cls-9, .cls-10, .cls-11, .cls-12 { isolation: isolate; } .cls-8 { fill: #000; font-family: ArialMT, Arial; } .cls-8, .cls-9, .cls-10 { font-size: 12px; } .cls-3 { stroke: #ccc; } .cls-4, .cls-9, .cls-10 { fill: #1a1a1a; } .cls-4, .cls-11 { display: none; } .cls-9, .cls-10 { font-family: Verdana-Bold, Verdana; font-weight: 700; } .cls-10 { letter-spacing: 0em; } .cls-6 { fill: #ccc; }Majority: 272543543Seats: 543 L + WNDA WONNDA293INDIA234OTH16View MapView DetailsSource: PvalueBaranagar assembly seat, where Jyoti Basu was the first MLA for two decades, was known to be a left bastion. Ghosh had banked on the Left votes for victory, but may eventually fail to win.