Ruling party Trinamool Congress won Contai seat by around 42,500 votes in the bypoll even as BJP stood second with 30 per cent vote share in the West Bengal.
With the win, Chandrima Bhattacharya, former law minister of Mamata Banerjee’s cabinet, who had lost the 2016 election from Dum Dum, is set to return to West Bengal government as minister. Bhattacharya received about 89,000 votes.
However, the BJP visibly made significant inroads in the byelection in the assembly constituency pushing Left to the third place. While Trinamool Congress continued to dominate since the beginning of the vote counting, Congress could manage only a little more than 2,000 votes. Left-backed CPI candidates got around 16,500 votes. BJP on the other hand got around 48,000 votes.
“This proves we are making a big gain. Wait till 2019, we would be major force in Bengal and win maximum Lok Sabha seat,” said Biswapriyo Roychowdhury, general secretary of state BJP.
The assembly by election was necessitated after Dibyendu Adhikari vacated the seat to contest Tamluk Lok Sabha assembly vacated by his brother Suvendu, who became transport minister in Bengal and contested 2011 assembly election.
