Zeenews Bureau
Kolkata: Dealing a further blow to CPI-M, ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Friday wrested both the Bankura and Daspur seats from it in the hotly contested by-elections.
Trinamool candidate Minati Mishra defeated CPI(M)’s Nilanjan Dasgupta in Bankura by a margin of 15,139 votes in the June 15 bypoll.
Samar Mukherjee another Left candidate was defeated by TMC’s Mamata Bhunia in Daspur constituency with a margin of 18,898 votes.
The by-elections to Bankura and Daspur in the Maoist-hit districts were caused by the death of TMC legislators there. Kashinath Mishra of TMC had won the Bankura seat last year by defeating the CPI(M) candidate by a margin of 29,090 votes while Ajit Bhunia of TMC had defeated his CPI(M) rival in Daspur by a margin of about 25,000 votes.
Around 67 percent of the electorate exercised their franchise right on June 12 in the by-elections at Bankura in West Bengal while the figure was 73 percent at Daspur.
BJP too has fielded its candidates in both the seats. Congress, however, did not put up candidate in any of the two seats.
First Published: Friday, June 15, 2012, 13:47