Left Front-backed Congress candidate Bariyon Biswas has defeated Trinamool Congress candidate Devashish Banerjee in the Sagardighi bypoll in West Bengal.
With the victory, the Congress will have representation in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly.
The bypoll to the minority-dominated Sagardighi assembly seat in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district was necessitated following the death of state minister Subrata Saha in December last year. The TMC, which had been winning the seat since 2011, secured a margin of over 50,000 votes in the 2021 assembly polls.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accepted the defeat, saying the defeat was due to the “unethical alliance” between the Left parties, the Congress and the BJP. He claimed that the BJP shifted its votes to the Congress to defeat the Trinamool Congress candidate.