Trinamool’s shadow mayor bites the dust

Even as the Trinamool Congress celebrates the resounding victory in the civic polls,the party finds it hard to digest the defeat of its senior leader Javed Khan who was the Leader of Opposition in the outgoing Kolkata Municipal Corporation.

Khan,who was the Trinamool’s shadow mayor lost by a thin margin of 71 votes from ward number 64 where he was pitted against CPI’s Farzana Chowdhury,the member mayor of council drainage and water supply,and Congress candidate Shammi Jahan. The failure of the Congress and the Trinamool to reach an alliance ahead of the polls perhaps cost Khan his seat. In the final break-up of votes polled,Khan secured 5,090 votes,Farzana 5,161 and Jahan 4,314. Had there been an alliance between the two parties,Khan would have easily sailed through. Khan used to contest from ward number 66,but this time with his ward being reserved for women candidates,his wife Rafat Javed contested from there and she won with a huge majority of 20,987 votes.

“The ward from where I contested this time is not my ward. I am happy that people have voted for our candidate in my previous ward. Anyway my loss does not count when the party is set to gain power at the KMC,” said Khan after the results were declared at Mahadevi Birla Girls High School in the Park Circus area.

Rafat,who was accompanying her husband,also attributed her success to him. Towards the end of poll campaign,the CPM had targetted Khan for his alleged involvement in the Rizwanur death case. Even Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhatacharjee while campaigning for his party in minority-dominated areas raised fingers on Khan’s involvement in the Rizwanur issue. The CPM alleged that Khan’s name figured in Rizwanur’s last letter in which he had written about feeling pressurised for breaking his marriage with Priyanka Todi.

Khan maintained a lead at the beginning but began trailing in the second last round.