MK Stalin, Sharad Pawar congratulate Mamata Banerjee on Bhabanipur bypoll win

MK Stalin, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, congratulated West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on her victory in the Bhabanipur bypoll by a record margin of over 58,000 votes over her closest opponent, the Bharatiya Janata Party's Priyanka Tibrewal (BJP). Mamata Banerjee has been elected to the State Legislative Assembly, allowing her to remain as Chief Minister of West Bengal. Mamata Banerjee received 85,263 votes, or around 71.90% of the total votes cast in the by-elections, according to the Election Commission of India.

"Congratulations to Mamata Banerjee on her resounding victory in the Bhabanipur by-election," Stalin tweeted. "The massive mandate reconfirms the unassailable confidence that the people of West Bengal have reposed on you, Mamata Banerjee," his tweet further read.

MK Stalin congratulates Mamata Banerjee on her election victory in Bhabanipur bypoll

BJP candidate Priyanka Tibrewal received 26,428 votes, while CPI (M) contender Srijib Biswas received 4,226 votes in Banerjee's main challenge. Mamata Banerjee alleged that the national government had plotted to depose the TMC from power since the beginning of the elections. She said this just after winning the by-poll.

"Since the elections started in West Bengal, central government hatched conspiracies to remove us (from power). I was hurt in my feet so that I don't contest the polls. I am grateful to the public for voting for us and to the Election Commission of India for conducting polls within six months," said the TMC supremo while greeting her supporters outside her residence in Kolkata.

Sharad Pawar congratulates Mamata Banerjee on her win 

Banerjee further claimed that over 46% of non-Bengalis voted for her in Bhabanipur. She stated that n on-Bengalis make up about 46% of the population in Bhabanipur and that they all voted in her favour. She said that the people of the state are watching Bhabanipur and that has inspired her. In the assembly elections earlier this year, Mamata Banerjee was defeated by BJP's Suvendu Adhikari in the Nandigram constituency. In May, West Bengal Agriculture Minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay vacated the Bhabanipur assembly seat, allowing Mamata Banerjee to run in the by-poll. Sharad Pawar, the president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), congratulated Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on her landslide victory in the Bhabanipur by-poll on Sunday. Earlier this year, on a visit to Delhi, Banerjee called for the unification of the Opposition and stated her plan to meet with Pawar about it.

Pawar wrote on Twitter, "Sincere congratulations to the Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee on her victory in the Bhabanipur bypoll."

With inputs from ANI

(IMAGE: PTI)