Trinamul Congress hopes to do well in the three seats of Balurghat, Raiganj and Darjeeling, which went to the polls today.
The BJP had won the three seats in 2019.
Sukanta Majumdar was elected from Balurghat while Debashree Chwodhury and Raju Bista were elected from Raiganj and Darjeeling, respectively.
Trinamul Congress has fielded Biplab Mitra from Balurghat, Kishan Kalyani from Raiganj and Gopal Lama from Darjeeling this time.
Addressing the media, Chandrima Bhattcaharya, state finance minister and president Trinamul Mahila Congress and Bratya Basu, state education minister said in Balurghat the poll percentage is more than 72. “Overall, more than 70 per cent votes had been polled till 5pm and the percentage would go up.”
He said the high percentage of polling indicates that Trinamul Congress will do well in Balurghat. “The body language of Sukanta Majumdar, state BJP president and the party’s nominee in Balurghat shows that he has conceded defeat. He had misbehaved with police officers out of sheer nervousness. On 4 June, when the EVM machines will be opened, it will be seen that he has been defeated.”
Mrs Bhattacharya said long queues of women outside the polling stations were remarkable. “It shows that the women have kept their faith in Mamata Banerjee. There were some problems with the EVM machines and this delayed the poll procedure in some booths. Women stood in long queues, braving the heat. The pro-people schemes by the state government have helped people coming from different strata of the society,” she said.
She said in the first phase there was clear indication that Nisith Pramanik, Union minister of state for home affairs would lose the match. “People have kept their faith on Didi’s promises and not on Modi’s ‘guarantee’ which is a big hoax,” she maintained.