CPI(M) back in Kolkata after 15 years

Repeatedly shunned by the voters in the metropolis in the past few LS elections, CPI(M) wrests Calcutta North-West seat on Thursday.

Repeatedly shunned by the voters in the metropolis in the past few Lok Sabha elections, CPI(M) on Thursday caused a major upset by wresting the prestigious Calcutta North-West seat, thanks to the presence of the rebel Nationalist Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandyopadhyya.

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Deeply entrenched in rural Bengal, CPI(M) had won in a Kolkata constituency last time in 1989 when Biplab Dasgupta defeated sitting Congress MP Bholanath Sen in Calcutta South.

The CPI(M) candidate Sudhanghu Sil's victory this time around in the traditionally anti-left Calcutta North-West was all the more significant as the previous instance of the left tasting success from the constituency was way back in 1956. Then, left-supported independent Mohit Moitra had emerged victorious in a by-poll.

Sil defeated his nearest Nationalist Trinamool Congress rival and Kolkata Mayor Subrata Mukherjee by a margin of 42823 votes.

Sil polled 151481 votes against 108658 by Mukherjee. Bandyopadhyya polled 81906. Bandyopadhyya had won the seat twice on a Trinamool ticket.