Bengal by-polls: Trinamool ahead in both Asansol, Ballygunge

Kolkata, April 16 : West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress was ahead in both the Asansol Lok Sabha and Ballygunge Assembly constituencies, where votes are being counted on Saturday for the by-polls held earlier this week. In Asansol, yesteryear’s noted Bollywood actor Shatrughan Sinha, who is contesting on the Trinamool Congress symbol, is leading over his nearest rival Agnimitra Paul of BJP by over 63,000 votes. The Comm st Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) nominee Partha Mukherjee was in the third position, while Congress candidate Prasenjit Puitandy was lying a distant fourth. In the Lok Sabha polls around three years back, BJP’s Babul Supriyo had won the seat by a 1,97,637 margin over then Trinamool nominee one-time actress Moon Moon Sen. The by-polls were necessitated as Supriyo resigned from the seat last October after joining the Trinamool. In Ballygunge, Supriyo – in the fray as Trinamool candidate – was leading by more than 8000 votes over CPI-M’s Saira Shah Halim. Congress nominee Kamruzzaman Choudhury was in third place, while BJP’s Keya Ghosh was far behind in the fourth position. The seat fell vacant after Trinamool Congress MLA and veteran state minister Subrata Mukherjee passed away last November. Around 66.42 percent and 41.23 percent polling were registered in the Asansol Lok Sabha constituency and the Ballygunje Assembly seats respectively on April 12. PC SSP

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