TMC wins Maheshtala assembly bypoll in West Bengal

Kolkata: The ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal on Thursday won the Maheshtala assembly bypoll defeating its nearest rival, the BJP, by a margin of 62,827 votes.

TMC candidate Dulal Das secured 104,814 votes against 41,987 by BJP's Sujit Ghosh, Returning Officer Sarmishtha Ghosh said.

Left Front candidate Prabhat Chowdhury, who was also backed by the Congress, bagged 30,316 votes.

The May 28 bypoll was necessitated following the death of TMC MLA Kasturi Das. Dulas Das is the husband of the deceased MLA. The TMC has 215 MLAs in the 294-member house.

"This is a victory of Mamata Banerjee and her politics of development," Das said after the victory.

BJP candidate Ghosh, on the other hand, expressed satisfaction that he had been able to increase the vote share of his party from 14,909 votes in 2016 assembly election to 41,987.