Kolkata/IBNS: In a boost for Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Trinamool Congress on Friday wrested back the Dhupguri assembly seat from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in a bypoll.

TMC candidate Nirmal Chandra Roy, a professor, won the seat in North Bengal, which is perceived as a stronghold of BJP, by 4,309 votes.

Roy defeated his nearest rival from BJP, Tapasi Roy, the wife of a CRPF jawan who was martyred in Jammu and Kashmir, who secured 93,304 votes.

CPI-M candidate Iswar Chandra Roy, who fought the election with Congress' support, failed to make a mark in once-a-Left citadel

All three parties had fielded their candidates from the Rajbanshi community, which forms the majority of the electorate, from the seat which falls in the Jalpaiguri district.

Winning the elections, Mamata Banerjee, who heads TMC, tweeted, "I thank the people of Dhupguri for reposing faith in us and voting decisively in our favour in the critical by-election to the Assembly constituency.

"People in North Bengal have been with us, and trust our strategy of growth, inclusiveness and empowerment. Bengal has shown its mandate, and soon INDIA too will show its preference. Jai Bangla! Jai INDIA!"

The Dhupguri bypoll win is crucial for TMC as North Bengal has remained a sticky track for the state's ruling party, which stormed back to power in 2021 with a landslide majority.

In 2019 Lok Sabha polls, BJP's meteoric rise from 2 to 18 seats was heavily contributed by the northern part of the state, where the saffron camp has never been in power.

"North Bengal is totally with us... It's a win for INDIA alliance," said Mamata despite the Left and Congress fighting together to defeat TMC and BJP.

Though Mamata's TMC, Congress and Left shared the dais of INDIA alliance to fight Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP in 2024, the scenario in Bengal politics is quite different.

Left and Congress, which were once arch-rivals in the state, have already cleared there will be no understanding in TMC in West Bengal.