Kolkata, Oct 9 (IANS) Hasirani Rath, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate for the bypoll for Nandigram Assembly Constituency in East Midnapore district of West Bengal, was declared elected by a record margin of 1,22,753 votes. While Rath secured 1,64,427 votes, Congress’s Milan Pradhan came in the second position, securing 41,674 votes. CPI’s Santi Gopal Giri was in the third position, receiving 5,779 votes, followed by All India Secular Front’s (AISF) Ali Md Sabe Miraj Khan in the fourth position, securing 1,607 votes. Ritabrata Banerjee-led Democratic Trinamool Congress finished in the fifth position, securing just 853 votes. Former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led Mamata All India Trinamool Congress was not in the electoral race at Nandigram this time, as its candidate Sanchita Pradhan Dey withdrew her nomination at the last moment, following which Mamata Banerjee announced her support towards the Congress candidate.
This is the highest ever victory margin by any winning candidate from Nandigram since 1967. The previous record was held by current Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari in 2016, when he got elected from Nandigram as a Trinamool Congress candidate by a margin of 81,230 votes. “Before the bypolls, I predicted that the victory margin for the BJP candidate this time would surpass my own record in 2016. This is what exactly happened. This would not have been possible unless our candidate had secured the majority of the minority votes in Nandigram,” said CM Adhikari while giving his reactions on the Nandigram assembly polls In the assembly elections earlier this year, CM Adhikari was elected from Nandigram by a margin of just 9,665 or 50.37 per cent of the total votes polled then. So statistically, in the bypolls this time, BJP witnessed 25.79 per cent positive vote swing, with Rath securing 75.94 per cent of the total votes polled. Earlier this year, CM Adhikari was elected simultaneously from Bhabanipur Assembly Constituency in South Kolkata, defeating Mamata Banerjee by a margin of little over 15,000 votes.
Later he decided to retain Bhabanipur, thus necessitating bypolls at Nandigram. Hasirani Rath is the mother of Chandranath Rath, the former personal assistant of Suvendu Adhikari, who was assassinated at Madhyamgram in North 24 Parganas district on May 6. The final result of bypolls for Rejinagar Assembly Constituency in Murshidabad district of West Bengal is yet to be announced. –IANS src/uk
