With the win of Subrata Bakshi by a massive margin in Kolkata South Lok Sabha seat, the victory march of the Trinamul Congress goes on. State Trinamul Congress president Mr Bakshi won the bypoll against CPI(M)’s young face Ritabrata Banerjee by 2,30,099 votes.
The Election Commission (EC) delayed the announcement due to malfunctioning of an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM). “Due to the technical snag of an EVM, counting of 48 votes is being held up for around two hours. After the nod from the EC, the final result has been declared without counting 48 votes,” Dibyendu Sarkar, joint state chief electoral officer, said. While Mr Bakshi, the state PWD and transport minister, polled 5,16,761 votes, CPI(M) candidate Banerjee bagged 2,86,662 votes, official sources said.
The bypoll, held on November 30, was necessitated by chief minister and Trinamul Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee’s resignation from the Lok Sabha after she won the Assembly byelection from Bhawanipur two months back. With the retention of the Kolkata South, the Trinamul Congress’ strength in the Lok Sabha now goes up to 19, making it the second largest constituent of the UPA-II government at the Centre.
Elated over the victory, Ms Banerjee bantered, “This time CPI(M) got lead only in three booths out of 1,902 booths. This proved that the people have kept faith in our positive and mobile government.”
This constituency has consistently elected Ms Banerjee to the Lower House of Parliament half-a-dozen times over the past 20 years. She won as a Congress candidate in 1991 and 1996 and on a Trinamul Congress ticket in 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2009. In the previous election, Ms Banerjee had humbled her nearest opponent Rabin Deb of the CPI(M) by a margin of 2,19,571 votes.
Significantly, the Trinamul Congress and the CPI(M) have both claimed that the results of the Kolkata South Lok Sabha constituency bypoll are success for them.