Babul Supriyo credits Mamata Banerjee as TMC lead over Bengal Bypolls

|HT|

TMC leader Babul Supriyo on Saturday credited Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee as the party took a huge lead over its competitors as votes were counted for byelections to the parliamentary seat of Asansol and the assembly constituency of Ballygunge. “I’m leading, along with me Shatrughan Sinha is leading as well. Didi guided us for working on ground. BJP’s position shows the effect of fuel price hike. Opposition stooped low during our campaign. Our party workers toiled in every corner,” Supriyo, who is the ruling party’s candidate from Ballygunge, said. According to the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) website, the singer-turned-politician is far ahead of his nearest competitor, the CPI(M)’s Saira Shah Halim, while the BJP’s Keya Ghosh is a distant third. Meanwhile, in Asansol, actor-turned-politician Sinha is way ahead of the second-placed Agnimitra Paul of the BJP. The bypolls for Asansol and Ballygunge were held on April 12, along with those for one assembly seat each in Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra, where, too, the counting of votes is underway. The exercise took place in Asansol due to Supriyo’s resignation as Member of Parliament, days after he left the BJP for the Trinamool in September last year. Byelections for Ballygunge were necessitated due to the demise in November last year of the sitting MLA and state minister Subrata Mukherjee. Besides both being from the entertainment industry, Sinha and Supriyo are former leaders of the BJP, and have also been Union ministers in the party’s governments at the Centre.

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