Kolkata: Describing today's thumping victory as people's reaction to the 'conspiracy' in Nandigram, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who steamrolled BJP's Priyanka Tibrewal by a whopping 58,832 votes, said the people of Bhawanipur have demonstrated the whole country, what Bengal wants.
Talking to media, Ms Banerjee, who surpassed her earlier winning margins this time and defeated her nearest BJP rival Priyanka Tibrewal by 58,832 votes, said, "There was a conspiracy in Nandigram. Bhawanipur answered back spontaneously. As the Nandigram episode is still sub-judice, I don't want to talk about it anymore. Bhawanipur has made it obvious what Bengal wants."
Ms Banerjee thanked the people of Bhawanipur and said, "I am indebted the way people voted despite Covid and rain. 46 per cent of non-Bengali voters are there in Bhawanipur. People of all strata and beliefs voted for me. I got leads in all wards. This is the first time this has happened. The people of Bhawanipur have demonstrated the whole country, what Bengal wants."
"I will not indicate victory with two fingers. I will indicate victory with three fingers. Because we have won in three places. I am nobody when I'm alone," she commented.
She also announced the names for the four Assembly constituencies of Santipur, Dinhata, Gosaba and Kharadah going to byelection on October 30.
" While Brajakishor Goswami will contest from Santipur, Udayan Guha will fight from Dinhata, Sovandeb Chattopadhyay from Kharadha and Subrata Mandal from Gosaba in the forthcoming byelections, ' she informed.
It was a hattrick for Ms Banerjee from Bhawanipur as she won from this constituency in both 2011 and 2016, but this time with a much higher margin of 58,832 votes.
Born on January 5, 1955, she joined Congress during the 1970s and won her first General Election in 1984 from Jadavpur Parliamentary Constituency, defeating Somnath Chatterjee of the CPI(M). She lost the Jadavpur seat to Malini Bhattacharya of the CPI(M) in 1989 and retrieved the seat in 1991 as a newly established Calcutta South Parliamentary Constituency. She kept defending the Kolkata South seat in the 1996, 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2009 General Elections.
In 1997, Ms Banerjee quit the Congress for some political disagreement with Somen Mitra and founded the All India Trinamool Congress. And literally in no time emerged as the main opposition party in West Bengal.
She was elected the Chief Minister of West Bengal in 2011 after winning the by-election defeating Nandini Mukherjee of CPI(M) from Bhawanipur by 54,213 votes. She was re-elected from Bhawanipur in 2016 by a margin of 25,301 votes over her rival Deepa Dasmunsi of the Indian National Congress.
In 2021, All India Trinamool Congress managed a landslide victory over BJP in West Bengal but she lost her seat to Suvendu Adhikari from Nandigram Assembly Constituency by 1736 votes. Ms Banerjee challenged the result and still, the matter is sub-judice.
She took her oath as the Chief Minister for the third time on May 5, 2021, and as a mandatory procedure, she had to win any Assembly seat within six months i.e. November 5. Veteran politician Shobhandev Chattopadhyay quit the Bhawanipur Assembly seat to make way for her to continue her third term as Chief Minister.
The party also bagged both Jangipir and Samshergunj Assembly seats in Murshidabad district by comfortable margins.
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