TC steals show in Bengal; more cracks in red fort

The outcome of the by-elections to 10 Assembly seats in West Bengal has dealt a further blow to the sagging morale of the ruling Left Front, which lost all but one of the total 10 seats that went to the polls.

The main Opposition Trinamool Congress (TC) maintained its good run, winning all the seven seats it contested. Its ally Congress contested three seats but could only retain the Sujapur seat in Malda district.

The CPI(M), which lost all the five seats it contested, suffered the most humiliating defeat in the Belgachhia East seat (Kolkata), for the first time since 1977.

The seat fell vacant after its senior leader Subhas Chakraborty died recently. Ramola Chakraborty, the wife of Subhas and herself a member of the party’s state committee, contested the seat but was defeated by TC’s Sujit Bose by nearly 30,000 votes.

While the CPI(M) drew a blank, its ally Forward Bloc’s victory at Goalpokhar in north Bengal was the only consolation for the Left Front.

The seat was vacant by Congress candidate Deepa Dasmunshi after she got elected to the Lok Sabha. Forward Bloc’s Ali Imran defeated the Congress candidate there by nearly 15,000 votes, giving credence to speculation that Mamata Banerjee and her supporters deliberately voted in favour of the Left candidate to teach her a lesson. Known for her strong opposition to the leadership of the Trinamool chief, Dasmunsi recently played a key role in forming an alliance with the CPI(M) in the new municipal board in Siliguri.

Meanwhile, Kalchini, an Assembly seat in north Bengal along the India-Bhutan border, went to an Independent candidate supported by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.