Priyanka Tibrewal, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate for Bhabanipur bypoll, on Sunday, conceded defeat to West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo, Mamata Banerjee. Tibrewal congratulated the West Bengal chief minister on her victory.
"I accept my defeat gracefully and I will not go to the court. But they said that Mamata Banerjee will win by a 1 lakh vote margin, but she has got around 50,000 votes. I will congratulate Mamata Banerjee, but the way she has won the elections, everyone has seen that," Tibrewal was quoted by India Today.
Tibrewal said she was overwhelmed by the affection she received from people and the commitment of the BJP leadership, who put more effort than her. "I am overwhelmed by the affection of people and commitment of my party leadership and workers who put in many times more effort than myself. I express my deep sense of gratitude. I rededicate with greater vigour to be in service of people," Priyanka Tibrewal tweeted.
Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee on Sunday secured her seat as West Bengal chief minister after leading the crucial Bhabanipur assembly constituency with a record margin of 58,832 votes.
After 21 rounds of counting, the TMC leader got 58,832 votes trouncing BJP's Priyanka Tibrewal (26320) and CMP candidate Srijeeb Banerjee (4201).
Earlier in the day, Priyanka Tibrewal wrote to the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court seeking preventive measures in case there is post-poll violence after results are declared on Sunday.
In the letter, Priyanka Tibrewal has sought strict orders from the Kolkata Police to take all precautionary measures to prevent any kind of violence post declaration of by-election result.
"I, Priyanka Tibrewal, the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from the Bhabanipur Assembly constituency is writing to you, requesting you to give a strict order to the Kolkata police forces to take all kinds of precautionary measures so that we do not witness any kind of violence post the by-election results on October 3," the letter read.
Referring to incidents of violence that took place in West Bengal following the declaration of result of state assembly polls in May, Priyanka Tibrewal said: "We have clearly witnessed an unprecedented massacre that took place all over Bengal post May 2 which has left the entire nation in shock and has given India-- Land of Ahimsa a bad image in the eyes of the world and we are still suffering the aftermath of the heinous crime committed by the miscreants of TMC."
"Taking the ghastly scenario into reference, I, as a candidate for this by-election, humbly request you give a strict order to all the government enforcement departments to take extreme precautionary measures so that no innocent life is lost, no sexual crime is committed, no public is left homeless, no incident of arson is recorded and we live in a peaceful environment come what may be the outcome on October 3," she added.
The counting of votes for by-elections in Bhabanipur, Jangipur, and Samserganj Assembly constituencies in West Bengal began at 8 am on Sunday amid tight security.
The total number of voters in Bhabanipur is 20,64,56; of which 1,11,243 are male and 95,209 are women. There were 287 booths in Bhabanipur, of which the number of main booths was 269.
(With inputs from PTI)
