Kolkata, June 23 (IANS) A landslide victory of the Trinamool Congress in the bypoll to Kaliganj Assembly constituency in Nadia district of West Bengal is now just a matter of time with the party candidate Alifa Ahmed having already crossed her own party’s winning margin in the 2021 Assembly polls after the 18th round of counting on Monday.

After the 18th round of counting, Ahmed’s lead margin stands at 47,866. In the 2021 Assembly election, her late father and then Trinamool Congress legislator from Kaliganj won by Nasiruddin Ahmed, was elected from Kaliganj by a margin of 45,987 votes, defeating BJP’s Abhijit Ghosh.

After the 18th round of counting, Alifa Ahmed secured 85,043 votes, following BJP’s Ashish Ghosh at 37,177 and the Left Front-supported Congress candidate Kabil Uddin Shaikh at 25,313.

This means that the total votes going in favour of the Trinamool Congress candidate are more than the combined votes going in favour of the BJP and Congress candidates.

There will be a total of 23 rounds of counting.

Giving her reactions on the lead margin of Ahmed, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that people of all religions, castes, races, and walks of life in Kaliganj have blessed her party immensely by exercising their right to vote in the by-elections there.

“I humbly express my gratitude to them. The main architects of this victory are the mother, soil, and people. My colleagues from Kaliganj have worked tirelessly on this. I also extend my heartfelt congratulations to them. My greetings and salutations to everyone,” the Chief Minister said.

Kaligani is a minority-dominated constituency with Muslim voters constituting almost 60 per cent of the total voters there.

The counting is being conducted under a blanket three-tier security cover. There are only Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel in the innermost security circle of the two counting halls.

–IANS

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