The Trinamul Congress (TMC) was expected to retain the Sitai Assembly segment in Cooch Behar. However, what came as a surprise was the massive margin by which TMC candidate Sangeeta Roy defeated BJP’s Dipak Kumar Roy. Ms Roy secured victory by 1,30,636 votes in the bypoll.

While confident of her win, Ms Roy did not anticipate breaking any records. The bypoll result in Sitai is second only to the record margin achieved by TMC’s Udayan Guha in Dinhata. Interestingly, Mr Guha had previously lost the 2021 general election in Dinhata to BJP’s Nisith Pramanik by just 53 votes.

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When asked about the result, North Bengal development minister Udayan Guha said, “Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia is my younger brother, so he could not break the record I set in the last bypoll in Dinhata.”

Notably, Mr Basunia, who was the MLA from Sitai, had vacated the seat after being elected as an MP from Cooch Behar, paving the way for Sangeeta Roy to contest the bypoll.

BJP candidate Dipak Kumar Roy left the counting hall after 12 rounds of counting. He commented: “This result was expected. We sensed it during our election campaign. The official declaration came today.”

Former North Bengal development minister Rabindranath Ghosh attributed the result to TMC’s connection with the people. “The TMC stayed with the people throughout the year, providing doorstep services. The BJP did nothing but make false promises,” he said.

TMC district president Abhijit Dey Bhowmik added, “The key reasons for this victory are development and discipline. Mamata Banerjee has ensured development, and Abhishek Banerjee has maintained party discipline. This combination has helped the TMC secure the Sitai and Madarihat seats with ease.”