West Bengal Assembly Bypolls: BJP leads in two seats, TMC in one
The ruling TMC surged ahead of its rivals in Kharagpur Sadar and Karimpur Assembly segments, while the BJP was ahead in the Kaliaganj Assembly seat after the ninth round of counting of votes for the by-polls in West Bengal, EC officials said on Thursday. Pradip Sarkar of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) was leading over his nearest rival Prem Chandra Jha of the BJP by over 13,000 votes in the Kharagpur Sadar seat. In the Kaliaganj Assembly segment, the saffron party's Kamal Chandra Sarkar was ahead of his nearest rival Tapan Deb Sinha of the TMC by 3,156 votes.
TMC's Bimalendu Singha Roy was leading over his nearest rival Jay Prakash Majumdar of the BJP by over 27,000 votes in the Karimpur Assembly seat.
Counting of votes began at 8 am on Thursday amid tight security in three Assembly seats of West Bengal where by-polls were held on November 25.
Kharagpur Sadar in West Midnapore district had elected state BJP president Dilip Ghosh in the 2016 Assembly polls. The constituency went to the hustings after Ghosh got elected to the Lok Sabha from the Midnapore constituency earlier this year.
The Trinamool has also left behind its opponents in Karimpur, where its nominee Bimalendu Sinha Roy was ahead of his nearest rival state BJP vice president Jay Prakash Majumder by 23,586 votes.
Karimpur constituency in Nadia district had to go for the bypoll as its lawmaker Trinamool's Mahua Moitra won the Lok Sabha battle from Krishnnanagar.
In Kaliaganj, after the fifth round of counting, BJP contestant Kamal Chandra Sarkar was leading by 3,255 votes over his closest rival Tapan Deb Singha of Trinamool Congress.
The seat in North Dinajpur district fell vacant after the incumbent Congress legislator Pramathanath Roy passed away.
The Left Front and the Congress have formed an alliance with the Congress in the fray from Kharagpur and Kaliaganj and Left Front major CPI-M from Karimpur.
The alliance candidates were running third in both Kaliaganj and Karimpur.
During the general elections, the BJP led in the Assembly segments of Kharagpur Sadar and Kaliaganj, while the Trinamool was ahead in Karimpur.
(With inputs from IANS and PTI)
