Left retains two seats in W Bengal bypolls

The ruling Left Front in West Bengal, on Tuesday, retained Katwa and Purulia Lok Sabha seats while opposition Congress and Trinamool Congress held fort in Malda Lok Sabha seat and Bongaon Assembly seat respectively.

The bypolls for these seats were conducted on September 16 and the results were declared on Tuesday.

The state's Chief Electoral Officer Debashis Sen told PTI that in Malda, Congress's A H Khan Chowdhury beat
his nearest rival Sailen Sarkar of Communist Party of India (Marxist), by a margin of 83,391 votes. The Congress candidate polled 4,37,161 votes, while the CPI(M) candidate got 3,53,770 votes.

In Katwa, CPI(M)'s Abu Ayesh Mondal defeated Trinamool Congress's Susanta Ghosh by a massive margin of 1,85,334 votes. Mondal polled 5,41.496 votes against Ghosh's 3,56,162 votes (without postal ballot) in a straight contest.

In Purulia, Narahari Mahato of All India Forward Bloc beat Santiram Mahato of Congress by a margin of 87,033 votes. AIFB polled 3,78,501 votes while Congress got 2,91,468 votes.

In Bongaon assembly seat, Saugata Roy of Trinamool Congress beat CPI(M)'s Pankaj Ghosh. Roy won by a margin of
5,767 votes retaining his seat, Sen said.

A total of 15 candidates -- two in Katwa, five in Malda and eight in Purulia -- were in the fray, while five contested for
the Bongaon assembly seat.

By-election to Malda and Katwa have been caused due to the deaths of veteran Congress leader A B A Ghani Khan
Chowdhury and Mehboob Jahedi of CPI-M respectively.

All India Forward Bloc MP Bir Singh Mahato's resignation following his conviction in a rape case necessiated the bypolls in Purulia. Trinamool Congress MLA Bhupen Seth's death ecessiated the by-election in the Bongaon assembly seat.