Elections 98

State:	West Bengal
Constituency:	Barasat
Total Votes Polled:	1071876
Winner: WBTC	Dr Ranjit Kumar Panja	499181
Runner Up: FBL	Chitra Ghosh	432474
Margin: 66707 (13%)

Elections 96

State:	West Bengal
Constituency:	Barasat
Total Votes Polled:	1072009
Winner: FBL	Chitta Basu	484474
Runner Up: INC	Ranjit Kumar Panja	449127
Margin: 35347 (3.37%)

After the CPI won the first election, the Congress won the next two rounds. Ranen Sen wrested the seat back for the CPI in 1967 and 1971, before it went to Chitta Basu of the Forward Bloc in 1977. In 1984 media baron Tarun Kanti Ghosh defeated two-time MP Basu, after which the latter leader was elected thrice in a row. In 1996 Basu defeated the Congress's Ranjit Kumar Panja by 35,000 votes. Alas, he will not be around to contest this election; he died on a train in Bihar last December.