The Trinamool Congress (TMC) suffered a shocking loss in the Sagardighi by-election in West Bengal on Sunday, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerging victorious. The result has come as a major setback for Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her party, who had been hoping to retain the seat.
The BJP candidate, Pradip Sarkar, won the seat by a margin of over 10,000 votes, defeating TMC’s Subrata Saha. The Congress-CPI(M) alliance, which had fielded a joint candidate, came in third.
The result has come as a major blow to the TMC, which had been hoping to retain the seat. The party had won the seat in the 2016 assembly elections, and had been confident of a victory this time around.
Mamata Banerjee, however, has blamed the loss on an “immoral alliance” between the Congress-CPI(M) and the BJP. She alleged that the two parties had joined forces to defeat the TMC, and accused them of “betraying the people”.
The Chief Minister also accused the BJP of using money and muscle power to influence the outcome of the election. She alleged that the BJP had used its “money power” to buy votes, and had also resorted to “intimidation and threats” to influence the result.
The BJP, however, has denied the allegations, and has accused the TMC of “spreading lies”. The party has also accused the TMC of using “dirty tricks” to influence the outcome of the election.
The result of the Sagardighi by-election is likely to have a major impact on the upcoming assembly elections in West Bengal. The BJP has been making inroads into the state in recent years, and the result of the by-election is likely to give the party a major boost.
The TMC, on the other hand, is likely to be left reeling from the result. The party had been hoping to retain the seat, and the loss is likely to dent its morale ahead of the assembly elections.
The result of the Sagardighi by-election is a major setback for the TMC, and Mamata Banerjee has blamed the loss on an “immoral alliance” between the Congress-CPI(M) and the BJP. The result is likely to have a major impact on the upcoming assembly elections in West Bengal, and the TMC will have to work hard to regain the confidence of the people.
