West Bengal bypolls : TMC bags all three seats
Kolkata, Nov 28: In a major boost for the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, the party on Thursday bagged all the three assembly seats where bypolls were held on November 25 by trouncing the BJP.
The TMC won the Kaliaganj, Kharagpur Sadar and Karimpur bypolls.
The BJP emerged in the second position in all the three seats.
Tapan Deb Sinha of TMC won the Kaliaganj seat in a close contest, defeating his nearest BJP rival Kamal Chandra Sarkar by 2,418 votes, EC officials said.
Kaliaganj is an assembly segment under Raiganj Lok Sabha constituency, which the BJP had won a few months ago. In the 2019 parliamentary election BJP had a lead of over 56,000 votes in the segment.
TMC's Pradip Sarkar wrested Kharagpur Sadar seat from BJP, which came as a shock for the saffron party as it was earlier held by the party's state president Dilip Ghosh before he was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Medinipur seat.
Sarkar defeated Premchandra Jha of BJP by a comfortable margin of 20,788 votes. The saffron party had a lead of nearly 45,000 votes in this seat during the Lok Sabha polls.
Kharagpur Sadar in an assembly segment in Medinipur Lok Sabha constituency.
The TMC candidate for Karimpur, Bimalendu Sinha Roy won by over 23910 votes defeating his BJP rival Jaiprakash Majumdar.
TMC MP Mohua Mitra had bagged Karimpur in the last polls before she was elected to the Lok Sabha from Krishnanagar.
TMC's Sinha Roy bagged 103278 votes whereas his nearest rival Majumdar of BJP bagged 79368 votes.
This is the first time that the TMC has bagged the Kaliaganj and Kharagpur seats.
The results have come as a huge encouragement to the TMC which faced a stiff challenge from the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll, after the saffron camp won 18 out of the 42 parliamentary seats. The TMC tally came down from 34 in 2014 to 22 seats.
Stunned over party's humiliating defeat in the bypoll, party's Kaliaganj candidate Kamal Chandra Sarkar said the confusion over the proposed implementation of NRC has cost BJP the seats.
West Bengal Chief Minister dedicated the party's victory to the people and said the voters had "paid back" the BJP for its "arrogance of power".
"We dedicate this victory to the people of Bengal. The BJP is getting paid back for its arrogance of power and for insulting the people of Bengal," she told a TV news channel.
The CPI(M) and the Congress, instead of trying to strengthen themselves, are "helping" the BJP in West Bengal, she added.
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Climate Change crisis: IMD to change parameters to declare heatwaves
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): The IMD, along with its technical partners, will soon revise the criteria for declaring heatwave conditions in the country, as the present parameters do not suit India’s geographical conditions, according to official sources here.
Kerala, in particular, has faced difficulties in issuing heatwave warnings because of the limitations of the existing parameters.
Sources in the India Meteorological Department said the state experienced severe heat and humidity this summer and, for the first time, weather forecasts were made based on the anti-cyclone system that formed near the Karnataka–Maharashtra coast.
"We have never had an anti-cyclone system form closer to the South before, and this time we had to predict the weather based on it," a senior IMD official told PTI.
Anti-cyclonic systems are common over north-western parts of India, but this year one formed near the southern region, leading to unusually hot nights.
The anti-cyclone caused downward air movement, which pushed warm air towards the surface and prevented it from dispersing at night, the official added. As a result, Kerala recorded night temperatures 3 to 4 degrees Celsius above normal.
Because Kerala has experienced a steady temperature increase during the summer months for the last few years, changing the parameters for declaring heat waves would benefit the state, enabling the authorities to issue warnings more efficiently, the official added.
The IMD currently issues hot and humid weather warnings, although the situation warrants a heatwave warning, as the existing parameters do not allow the department to issue one.
At present, the IMD issues a heat wave warning in coastal areas when the maximum temperature reaches 37 degree Celsius or more with a temperature departure of 4.5 degree Celsius over the recorded maximum temperature.
For plains, the threshold is 40 degrees Celsius with a departure of 4.5 degrees Celsius or more from normal, while for hilly regions it is 30 degrees Celsius with a departure of 4.5 degrees Celsius or more.
Officials said the current heatwave declaration parameters also require these conditions to be recorded at two stations in the state to issue the warnings.
"In Kerala, we hardly get to record these conditions in two areas; moreover, we have severe heat stress that can easily cause a heat stroke. So we have decided to rework the heatwave declaration parameters and the changes will be implemented shortly. There will be a consultation with the Disaster Management Authority also before finalising the parameters," the official said.
Throughout Kerala, temperatures recorded this summer were three to four degrees Celsius higher than usual. The state also reported multiple cases of heatstroke despite regular warnings issued by the IMD and the state disaster management authority.
According to experts, Kerala has become a climate change hotspot, with a steady increase in atmospheric temperatures and erratic monsoons.
The IMD has also predicted a below-normal monsoon this year, as this is the first time two consecutive El Nino years are being witnessed.
