oppn parties Mamata Elated As TMC Wins All Three Seats In Bypolls In West Bengal

Story Of The Day

Tiranga Rally Is Excellent. Breaking The Law Was Not

October 17, 2026

People Are Talking About

People Are Talking About Junk Food Near Schools

News Snippets

  • Allahabad HC said that the UP Police is acting as law unto themselves as they detained a person unlawfully even before his arrest
  • Kolkata witnesses traffic snarls on the first day of the Durga Puja festival as revellers start pnadal-hopping
  • Neha Bora was subsequently released and Dipke is to appear before a magistrate today at noon
  • Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, Neha Bora of AISA, student leaders and supporters ahead of a rally in Connaught Place demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. The protest followed the detention and jailing of two CJP leaders earlier in the week over demonstrations at Jantar Mantar
  • The Reserve Bank of India is considering further monetary tightening to counter capital outflows and increase the cost of betting against the rupee, according to bankers and analysts cited by Reuters. The measures follow recent rate increases and steps to drain liquidity as pressure on the currency and inflation concerns persist
  • India directed oil marketing companies to stop diverting sugar-based feedstocks for ethanol production in the 2026–27 supply year, according to a new tender issued on Friday. The companies have invited bids for 11 billion litres of ethanol made from alternatives including corn and broken rice, amid concerns about domestic sugar supplies and prices
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's trade imbalance with China was growing sharply and attributed the problem partly to restrictions on Indian goods and services entering the Chinese market. China subsequently said it was ready to work with India to address mutual economic and trade concerns; India's trade deficit with China reached $69 billion in the first half of FY2026–27, up 27% year-on-year
  • Indian equity benchmarks extended their recovery on Friday, with the Sensex rising 413.66 points to close at 74,729.27 and the Nifty 50 gaining 148.80 points to settle at 23,146.15. Information technology shares, including Tech Mahindra, Infosys and TCS, helped lift the indices
  • India defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets in the opening women's T20 International in Raipur, taking a 1–0 lead in the three-match series. Deepti Sharma and Niki Prasad combined in an 82-run stand after India's top order collapsed, helping the hosts chase down Zimbabwe's total of 114 for five
  • Indian wrestler Komal won bronze in the women's 59 kg category at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, defeating Kazakhstan's Viktoriia Khusainova 7–2. Fellow Indian Amruta Pujari advanced to the women's 72 kg final after recording two pinfall victories
  • Indian shuttler Jagsher Singh Khangurra secured a bronze medal at the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships in Cairo
  • The Supreme Court of India upheld the Bombay High Court's decision quashing the 2020 write-off of ₹8,415 crore in additional tier-1 bonds issued by Yes Bank (Yes Bank). The court ruled that the bank's administrator lacked the authority to extinguish the bonds under the final reconstruction scheme, strengthening bondholders' claims
  • The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, Delhi Police and opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, in separate petitions concerning electoral-roll revision and protests held in Delhi on October 10–12. The court also directed the preservation of CCTV footage linked to allegations of police excesses
  • The Supreme Court ruled that a person converting from Hinduism to Islam cannot automatically claim backward-class reservation benefits in the new religious community solely on the basis of their previous caste status. The judgment upheld the Madras High Court's decision striking down a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order that permitted such certification for specified communities
  • The Election Commission of India ordered a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in 14 states and three Union Territories, using January 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility. The draft rolls are scheduled for publication on November 12, claims and objections will be accepted until December 11, and the final rolls are due on January 4, 2027
Delhi HC refuses to ban CJP's Tiranga rally at Central Park in Connaught Place today /////// Police says will control and regulate it /////// NDMC closes the park for the public on Friday and Saturday
oppn parties
Mamata Elated As TMC Wins All Three Seats In Bypolls In West Bengal

By Linus Garg

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.

The Trinamool Congress won all the three seats for which bypolls were held recently in West Bengal. It snatched the Kharagpur Sadar seat from the BJP, the Karimpur seat from the Congress and retained the Kaliaganj seat.  In Kaliaganj, Tapan Deb Sinha of the TMC beat his nearest BJP rival by 2418 votes. In Kharagpur Sadar, the TMC candidate won by a margin of 20811 votes, landing a huge punch on the face to the BJP. The state BJP president Dilip Ghosh was the MLA from this seat before he got elected to the Lok Sabha. In Karimpur, the margin was over 23000 votes.

This was an excellent performance by the party which managed to push back the BJP and reduced the Congress-CPIM alliance to the margins if they were not already there. The victory in Kharagpur Sadar was especially creditable as TMC was third here the last time. Its candidate had secured just 34000 votes in 2016, falling behind both the BJP and the Congress. But this time, the TMC candidate, Pradeep Sarkar, got 72893 votes, a turnaround not normally witnessed in bypolls unless there is a major wave. After the victory, chief minister and party supremo Mamata Banerjee said that it was the victory of the people and her party's policies of development. She also said that the people of West Bengal had paid back the BJP for its arrogance. Yet, the TMC and Banerjee cannot deny that the BJP is fast occupying the opposition space left vacant by the complete annihilation of both the Congress and the Left parties.

In all three seats, the BJP nominees were second after the TMC. The number of votes polled by the BJP was nearly 80 percent of that polled by the TMC. This shows that the party has managed to gain acceptance in a state that was hitherto unchartered territory for it. Its performance might have been better had it not been for the fear the people of West Bengal have for the NRC, especially after the Assam fiasco. Amit Shah did not help the matter by asserting just before the bypolls that the NRC would be implemented on a pan-India basis. The TMC was quick to condemn that and reiterate that it would never be allowed in West Bengal. 

Other Stories You Make Like

Editorials

Growth Without Jobs Is a Warning

Growth Without Jobs Is a Warning

 Delhi Curbs: Has The Government Panicked?

Delhi Curbs: Has The Government Panicked?

In Depth

Grounds Of Arrest: The Supreme Court's Rule Must Be Followed By The Police On The Ground

Grounds Of Arrest: The Supreme Court's Rule Must Be Followed By The Police On The Ground

Editor's Pick

For the Goonj to Reverberate, Rahul Gandhi Must Take Regional Parties Along

For the Goonj to Reverberate, Rahul Gandhi Must Take Regional Parties Along
© 2014 India Commentary. All rights reserved.