Left, Congress losses deposit in bypoll

Left Front, which once held sway in Bengal's East Midnapore district, today emerged as a nominal force there with its candidate losing his deposit in the by-poll to Kanthi Dakshin assembly seat.
The Congress candidate too lost his deposit and was relegated to the fourth position, behind the Left, while ruling TMC candidate Chandrima Bhattacharya alone won 55 per cent of the total votes polled in the constituency.
The two have, however, claimed that their poor show was a result of the ongoing communal polarization in the state.
"The result is a reflection of communal polarization that is going on in the state. Both TMC and BJP are trying to flare up communal tensions in the state," CPI state secretary Probodh Panda told PTI.

Echoing him, Leader of Opposition and senior Congress leader Abdul Mannan accused TMC of letting loose a reign terror during the polls.
"TMC had let loose a silent reign of terror ahead of the polls. Congress and Left were not allowed to campaign properly, but BJP was not stopped from campaigning. This election has clearly put up a picture where TMC and BJP are having a covert political understanding," he said.

Left Front supported CPI candidate Uttam Pradhan secured 17,423 votes which is 10 percent of the total votes polled. In 2016 when Left Front had fought the election as an alliance partner of Congress it had secured 34.73 percent votes.

Congress candidate Naba Kumar Nanda secured juts 2270 votes, which is 1.3 percent of the total votes polled.
Bhattacharya secured 95369 votes, which is 55 percent of the total votes polled. TMC increased its vote share by two per cent since the last assembly polls in 2016 when it secured 93359 votes. In 2011 assembly elections, when TMC came to power forthe first time in the state, it had polled 86933 votes respectively.
BJP's vote share has increased by leaps and bounds from 8 per cent in 2016 to 31 per cent. It secured 52843 votes this time up from 15,000 in 2016.