Bengal: TMC's Alifa Ahmed leads by over 19,000 votes in Kaliganj bypoll

Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress was leading by over 19,000 votes in the by-election to the Kaliganj assembly seat in West Bengal's Nadia district even as counting was underway on Monday.

After seven rounds of counting, TMC candidate Alifa Ahamed secured 32,308 votes, while her nearest rival, Congress candidate Kabil Uddin Shaikh, backed by the CPI(M), bagged 13,144 votes. BJP nominee Ashis Ghosh was trailing in the third position, securing 11,987 votes, election officials said.

Counting began at 8 am with the postal ballots. The process has been peaceful so far, they added.

The bypoll was necessitated following the sudden demise of sitting TMC MLA Nasiruddin Ahamed in February this year. His daughter, Alifa Ahamed, has been fielded by the party to retain the seat.

Voting for the by-election was held on Thursday, with a voter turnout of 69.85 per cent recorded till 5 pm. Barring a few isolated incidents, voting remained largely peaceful.