The Trinamool Congress on Wednesday retained the Howrah Lok Sabha seat,which it had won four years ago in alliance with the Congress. This time without any tie-up with the Congress,Trinamools Prasun Banerjee,the Arjuna awardee footballer,defeated CPMs Sridip Bhattacharya by a margin of 26,965 votes. The Congress came third in the triangular contest in which the BJP had not fielded its candidate. On the surface,it seemed as if Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjees ekla cholo re slogan meant to assert the partys decision to do away with any alliance with the Congress had paid off. Buoyed by the victory,Mamata said her party did not require the Congress at all. The Congress requires us. We dont need Congress. The people in Howrah have given the message that we should go alone, she said after results were announced. But analysed in detail,the result should give the ruling Trinamool jitters. Ekla cholo re might just not be the answer for Mamata and her party. There is bound to be stronger clamour for an alliance with the Congress in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls if Howrah result is any indication,according to Trinamool sources. After just two years of being in power in West Bengal,the Trinamool seems to have lost a vast urban support base. Prasun Banerjees tally of 4,26,387 votes or 44.52 per cent vote share helped him defeat the CPM,which bagged bagged 3,99,422 votes or 41.85 per cent. But his winning margin is down by 10,000 votes as compared to his predecessor Ambica Banerjees margin in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections Ambicas death,earlier this year,led to the holding of the bypoll in Howrah. The Congress,this time,received 96,743 votes,over 10 per cent of the total votes polled. In 2009,the Trinamool and the Congress had contested the seat jointly. To that extent,it has been an achievement for the Trinamool to retain the seat without any support from the Congress. But what should be bothering the Trinamool is when it counts the votes it got in each of the seven Assembly segments that form the Howrah parliamentary seat. In the 2011 Assembly elections,when Trinamool swept the elections in alliance with the Congress,the seven Assembly segments under Howrah Lok Sabha seat had given the alliance a lead of 1,84,000 votes vis-a-vis the CPM. But this time,the lead has dipped to 26,965 votes. Again,in the 2011 Assembly polls,all the seven Assembly segments were won by the TMC. But if we break the Assembly segment-wise voting,we find that CPM has been able to get more votes than the Trinamool in two of the seven Assembly segments. While Trinamool got leads in five Assembly constituencies Howrah Central,Howrah North,Bally,Panchla and Shibpur,the CPM had leads in two Howrah South and Sankrail. In the Bally Assembly segment,the contest was very close. Mamata discounted the CPMs lead in two Assembly segments,saying: It does not matter if CPM got lead in two pockets where they have got their supporters. It was a lone fight for us and we won. It (bypoll results) ushered in a new arithmetic,a new chapter, she said. A defeated CPM,however,termed it as a moral defeat for the Trinamool. If we had got 14,000 more votes,the situation could have been different, said CPM candidate Sridip Bhattacharya. This is a moral victory for us and a a moral defeat for the Trinamool, he added. Senior CPM leader Biman Bose also indicated to the changing voting pattern. It is a clear indication of how the people have got disillusoned with the Trinamool, he said.
