NEWSLINKS
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTION 99
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Trinamul wins Panskura seat

Rifat Jawaid in Calcuttta

The ruling left front in West Bengal received a major jolt after its candidate, Gurudas Dasgupta, lost the Panskura Lok Sabha bye-election to Vikram Sarkar of Trinamul Congress by 41,000 votes.

The bye-election was held after the death of sitting left front Member of Parliament, Geeta Mukherjee.

The result has surprised many as only two weeks ago the Trinamul Congress was routed in local municipal and zilla elections.

One of the sitting Congress MLAs had openly supported Sarkar.

Dasgupta had complained to the election commission that the polls were rigged. But the Election Commission's central observers, after a review, stated that the polls were free and fair.

A Lok Sabha member from Howrah in 1998, Sarkar was denied a ticket in 1999.

The Trinamul Congress now has nine members in the Lok Sabha.

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report