Police personnel conduct investigation at the site after a nine-year-old girl was killed in a bomb explosion in Kaliganj, in West Bengal's Nadia district, Monday, June 23, 2025.
Credit: PTI Photo
Kolkata: The ruling Trinamool Congress victory in the bye-elections in Kaliganj assembly constituency in Nadia in West Bengal on Monday was marred by the death of a 13-year-old girl in an explosion immediately after the poll results were declared.
While the TMC celebrated its victory in Kaliganj, a bomb blast killed 13-year-old Tamanna Khatun at Barachandghar in the same assembly constituency.
“I am shocked and deeply saddened at the death of a young girl in an explosion at Barachandghar. My prayers and thoughts are with the family in their hour of grief,” Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee posted on X. “Police shall take strong and decisive legal action against the culprits at the earliest.”
The explosion took place during a clash between two rival groups, said police, after arresting Akhtar Sheikh for being involved in the blast and the killing of the girl, who was hit by a splinter, according to the police.
BJP leader Amit Malviya alleged that the bombs were hurled during the TMC’s victory celebrations in Kaliganj.
“This is the blood price of Mamata Banerjee's violent, vote-bank-driven politics. West Bengal has no law and order left,” Malviya posted on X.
“Mamata Banerjee, ironically the state’s Home Minister, has failed spectacularly as an administrator. Worse, she fuels radicalised politics to polarise and retain her Muslim vote bank, only for innocent children like Tamanna to pay with their lives,” the BJP leader, who oversees the party’s affairs in West Bengal, wrote, adding: “This is not governance. This is criminal neglect.”
Alifa Ahmed, the candidate of the ruling TMC, secured 55.15 per cent votes to win the bye-elections in Kaliganj by a margin of 50,049 votes over her nearest rival, Ashish Ghosh of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who ended up with 28.29 per cent votes.
Ahmed is the daughter of Nasiruddin Ahmed, who had won from Kaliganj on the TMC ticket in 2021, but passed away earlier this year, necessitating the bypoll. Kabiluddin, the Congress candidate supported by the Left Front, secured 15.21 per cent votes.