Trinamool Congress candidates have clinched victories with huge margins in all four Assembly constituencies that went for bypolls on July 10.
With this, the ruling party improves its tally in the Assembly to 229 from 215 and the BJP’s numbers come down to 63 from 77.
The Congress and Left Front continue to have zero presence in the West Bengal Assembly.
At Raiganj Assembly constituency in North Dinajpur District, Trinamool Congress candidate Krishna Kalyani has been declared elected by a margin of 50,007 votes, defeating the BJP candidate Manas Kumar Ghosh.
The Congress candidate Mohit Sengupta came a distant third, bagging 23,116 votes.
Krishna Kalyani also got elected in 2021 from Raiganj Assembly constituency in 2021 but that time as a BJP candidate. However, he had to resign as the legislator before the recently-concluded Lok Sabha polls as he contested as a Trinamool Congress candidate from Raiganj Lok Sabha and suffered defeat.
At Ranaghat-Dakshin Assembly constituency, the Trinamool Congress candidate Dr Mukut Mani Adhikari got elected by a margin of 39,048 votes defeating the BJP’s Manoj Kumar Biswas.
The CPI(M) candidate Arindam Biswas came a distant third, bagging just 13,082 votes.
Like Kalyani, Adhikari also got elected from Ranaghat-Dakshin in 2021 but that time as a BJP candidate. However, he had to resign as legislator before the recent Lok Sabha polls as he contested as a Trinamool Congress candidate from Ranaghat Lok Sabha, where he got defeated.
At Bagda Assembly in North 24 Parganas District, the Trinamool Congress’ candidate Madhuparna Thakur got elected by 33,455 votes defeating the BJP candidate Binay Kumar Biswas.
All India Forward Bloc candidate Gour Biswas came in the distant third position bagging just 8.189 votes.
In the 2021 Assembly polls, the BJP candidate Biswajit Das got elected from Bagda.
However, he had to resign as the legislator since he contested as a Trinamool Congress candidate from Bangaon in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, where he got defeated.
At Maniktala Assembly in Kolkata, Trinamool Congress candidate Supti Pandey got elected by a margin of over 62,000 votes defeating the BJP candidate Kalyan Chaubey.
However, Pandey is yet to be officially declared as winner and the exact margin is still to be announced.
The CPI(M) candidate Rajib Majumdar came third.
Maniktala bypoll was necessitated by the demise of the erstwhile Trinamool Congress legislator Sadhan Pandey.
The Trinamool Congress fielded his widow Supti Pandey.
The bypoll results come as a morale booster for the Trinamool Congress and as a major setback to the BJP, considering that even in the recently-concluded Lok Sabha polls the BJP was comfortably ahead at Raiganj, Bagda and Ranaghat-Dakshin, while the ruling party was marginally ahead at Maniktala.
Indian army responding to Pak ceasefire violations: FS Vikram Misri
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on Saturday said that Indian armed forces have been responding adequately to the ceasefire violations by the Pakistani army despite the announcement of truce between the two countries a few hours earlier.
Hours after announcement of truce, Pakistan violates ceasefire
Despite the announcement of ceasefire by India and Pakistan, there was a violation by the Pakistan army on Saturday evening in Akhnoor, Mendhar, R.S. Pura, Chamb, Bhimber and Gurez sectors while loud blasts were also heard in Srinagar.
No mosque touched during 'Operation Sindoor': Colonel Sofiya Qureshi
The Indian armed forces respect the Constitution’s secular values and keeping these in mind, they did not target any mosque during ‘Operation Sindoor’, the Defence Ministry said on Saturday, within hours of agreeing to a ceasefire with Pakistan.
India and Pakistan to stop all firing and military action: MEA
A few minutes after US President Donald Trump announced a "full and immediate ceasefire" between India and Pakistan, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that both sides would stop all firing and military action on land, air and sea with effect from 5 PM Indian Standard Time, on Saturday.
India to treat terror strike in future as 'Act of War'
India has decided that any future act of terror will be considered an ‘Act of War’ against the country and will be responded to accordingly, a decision which aligns with the Narendra Modi government’s zero tolerance for terror, official sources said on Saturday.
6 Pakistani air bases pounded by India in hit-back
Besides blunting Pakistan’s drone attacks overnight, India has carried out precision attacks on six Pakistan Air Force bases in Rafiqui, Sukkur, Murid, Chunia, Chaklala, and Rahim Yar Khan, said an official on Saturday.
India hit 8 military bases in Pakistan, including Sialkot station: Centre
India responded strongly to Pakistan’s repeated drone and missile attacks and hit at least eight military targets inside Pakistan on Friday night with precision, thereby causing significant damage, the Centre told the Press, as part of a special briefing on 'Operation Sindoor'.
Pak troops moving into forward areas, Indian forces in high state of operational readiness: Govt
India on Saturday said that Pakistan was escalating tensions along the Western border by moving troops into forward areas, suggesting an offensive intent to intensify hostilities.