Cong rides Mamata wave,doubles tally

Riding the Mamata wave,the Congress too gained significantly in West Bengal,winning 42 of the 65 seats which it contested.

Riding the Mamata wave,the Congress too gained significantly in West Bengal,winning 42 of the 65 seats which it contested its largest tally since the Trinamool Congress leader broke away.

While the Congress won 14 seats in Murshidabad and eight in Malda districts considered its strongholds the party also won two constituencies in Purulia,three in North Dinajpur,two in West Midnapore and two in Jalpaiguri.

Among the significant Congress winners were West Bengal PCC president Manas Bhunia from Sabang,West Midnapore; Abhijit Mukherjee,son of Pranab Mukherjee,from Nalhati,Birbhum; Debo Prasad Roy from Alipore Duar; Sukh Vilas Verma from Jalpaiguri; and four Youth Congress candidates from Mothabari,Burwan,Para and Katulpur.

It was a vast improvement over the Congresss tally of 21 seats in the 2006 Assembly elections and 26 in 2001.

Congress leaders were prompt in giving Mamata Banerjee the credit. We want to thank Mamata Banerjee. She worked hard to uproot the CPM government for 34 years, said Shakeel Ahmed,Congress working committee member in-charge of West Bengal.

The party must be also happy that none of its rebels won the polls,including seven-time Congress MLA Ram Payre Ram,who lost to the Trinamools Bobby Hakim from Kolkata Port.

However,some of the rebels are believed to have hurt the Trinamool candidates chances.

Clean sweep for GJM in Darjeeling district

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The GJM has got its first official public mandate with a 100-per cent result in the hills. GJM fielded four candidates three in Darjeeling district and one in Jalpaiguri. All the four GJM candidates won while the three in Darjeeling won with handsome margins. Significantly,the GJM candidate in Jalpaiguri district won while contesting the election from the custody. Triloknath Dewan,former chief secretary of Andhra Pradesh and the GJM candidate in Darjeeling,got 1,20,532 votes while the GNLF candidate got 13,977. Rohit Sharma,GJM candidate in Kurseong,won with a margin of 93,096 votes and Harka Bahadur Chetri,GJM candidate in Kalimpong,won with a margin of 1,01,675. In Siliguri constituency,Ashok Bhattacharya,state Municipal Affairs Minister,lost to TMCs Rudranath Bhattacharya.

There was disconnect with people,says Somnath

Expelled CPM leader and former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Friday said the party fared poorly as it was disconnected from the people of West Bengal and failed to understand their mood. Clearly there was disconnect with the people and party leaders could not understand the mood of the people, Chatterjee said. Asked about the reason for the Lefts rout,he said,Some mistakes were made and proper reviews were not made.