The ruling Trinamool Congress in Bengal kept its winning streak alive as it retained the Kaliganj Assembly seat in Nadia district in the bypoll held last week.
After 14 rounds, as per the Election Commission of India’s website, the Trinamool nominee Alifa Ahmed was leading by 33,255 votes ahead of the BJP’s Ashish Ghosh and the Congress’ Kabiluddin Shaikh.
“People from all castes, creed and religion have blessed us in the Kaliganj Assembly bye-election. With bowed head I express my gratitude towards them,” wrote chief minister Mamata Banerjee on X. “The people are the architect of this victory. All my colleagues in Kaliganj put their best to ensure this victory. I congratulate them.”
The bypoll was held following the death of the sitting Trinamool lawmaker Nasiruddin Ahmed.
In three other constituencies, across the country, maintained status quo except for Kerala’s Nilambur, a part of the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat represented by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
Assured of a victory in Nilambur, the Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra gave the credit to team effort.
“We worked as a team, each one with commitment and single pointed focus that is the most important lesson of this success,” she wrote. Thanking the voters of Nilambur, she wrote: “Your trust and belief in the values of our constitution and in the UDF’s vision for progress will be the guiding light for our way forward.”
Congress nominee Aryadhan Shoukath is leading from the seat by 11,077 votes ahead of the CPM’s M. Swaraj.
In the 2021 assembly elections, independent candidate P.V. Anvar won from the seat and backed the Left Democratic Front. Anvar resigned from the Assembly following differences with Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Anvar joined the Trinamool Congress’ Kerala unit later.
In the current bypoll Anvar contested as an independent and is trailing behind both the Congress and CPM nominees.
Shoukath’s father Aryadan Mohammad was elected eight times from the Nilambur seat.
The assembly polls to Kerala will be held next year along with Bengal.
The Congress victory will come as a shot in the arm for the grand old party which has to contend with both the Left and the BJP, which is trying to make inroads in Kerala.
In Gujarat’s Visavadar, Aam Aadmi Party’s Italia Gopal defeated the BJP’s Kirit Patel by a margin of 17,554 votes. In 2022, Visavadar was among the five seats won by the AAP. The MLA Bhupendra Bhayani later switched to the BJP.
The BJP retained the Kadi Assembly seat in Gujarat where a bypoll was held after the death of the sitting party MLA Karshan Solanki.
Up north, the Aam Aadmi Party nominee from Ludhiana West Sanjeev Arora was ahead of Congress’ Bharat Bhushan Ashu by over 10,000 votes.