Even as all eyes remain on Bhawanipur while counting of by-poll votes is underway in West Bengal, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee remains coolly ahead with a lead of 12,435 votes in the Bhawanipur. The latest figures were revealed by the Eclection Council after the fourth round of counting across three seats on Sunday.
Not just Bhawanipur, a seat that Banerjee needs to win to retain her office as West Bengal Chief Minister, her party the Trinamool Congress was also leading in the two Murshidabad seats -Samserganj and Jangipur.
Banerjee, the TMC candidate in the Bhabanipur seat in south Kolkata, secured 16,397 votes, as per official data after the fourth round of counting.
Her nearest rival, BJP's Priyanka Tibrewal, secured 3,962 votes, while Srijib Biswas of the CPI(M) secured 315 votes.
Total 21 rounds of counting will be held in Bhabanipur.
In Samserganj, TMC candidate Amirul Islam was leading by 3,768 votes after the fifth round of counting. He secured 19,751 votes, while his nearest rival Zaidur Rahaman of the Congress received 15,983 votes.
Jangipur's TMC candidate Jakir Hossain was leading by 4,715 votes after the second round of counting. Hossain secured 9,213 votes and his nearest rival, BJP's Sujit Das, got 4,498 votes.
Voting in the seats was held on September 30.
Banerjee's lead may not come as a surprise to many as several political analysts and observers had previously predicted her victory in the absence of a strong opponent.
