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Mamata turns Bengal green
The map of West Bengal has turned green with intermittent patches of red as the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress swept to power bulldozing the Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Front with a success rate of over 81 per cent.
The party, which fielded candidates in 227 of the 294 constituencies, bagged 184 seats with a success rate of 81.05 per cent.
Mamata: The Bengali street-fighter
In the 2006 assembly election, TC had managed to win only 30 seats with a vote percentage of 26.64.
Trinamool's ally Congress also encashed on the people's mood for change and improved its performance in the just-concluded assembly poll.
The Congress, which had contested in 65 constituencies, achieved a success rate of 64.61 per cent securing 42 seats compared to 21 won by it in 2006 election.
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Mamata turns Bengal green
That its alliance with TC paid dividends was clear from the fact that its tally in the last election was half when it had contested alone.
The success of the TC was not limited to any particular pocket and the party breached the traditional left stronghold like West Midnapore, Purulia, Bankura, Burdwan, Howrah and Hooghly.
TC's success was so spectacular this time that it even dwarfed its performance in the 2009 Lok Sabha poll.
Compared to the Lok Sabha elections held two years ago when TC had a lead in 14 of the 16 seats in Howrah, this time the party made a clean sweep in the district snapping up all the seats with the CPI(M) and its left allies drawing a blank.
Mamata turns Bengal green
In neighbouring Hooghly district also Trinamool scored a splendid victory capturing 16 of the 18 seats.
Here also the party improved its showing compared to the 2009 Lok Sabha poll when it had a lead in 10 constituencies.
What could have been unthinkable in the past has happened in this election with CPI(M)-led Left pushed to the wall even in districts like Bankura and Purulia.
Of the 12 seats in Bankura, TC won nine and bagged seven out of nine seats in Purulia.
In another red bastion of Burdwan, TC inflicted a humiliating defeat on the Marxists capturing 17 of the 25 seats in the district. Even CPI(M) politburo member Nirupam Sen was defeated at the hands of TMC candidate by a huge margin of over 36,000 votes in Burdwan South.
Mamata turns Bengal green
Riding on its movement against land acquisition in Nandigram, Trinamool made inroads into the East Midnapore since the 2008 panchayat poll.
The party had taken lead in all the 16 assembly segments during the 2009 Lok Sabha election and retained its total hold this time as well.
Compared to 2006, when it was red all over from Cooch Behar in North Bengal to West Midnapore, the situation has reversed this time with green dotting all corners of the state.
CPI(M)'s performance was so dismal that even its own leadership found it hard to believe. Outgoing Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Left Front chairman Biman Bose have described the people's verdict as "unexpected".
Mamata turns Bengal green
The Marxist party which had fielded candidates in 211 seats, manged to score a success rate of just about 19 per cent as the party barely managed to return only 40 nominees.
CPI-M had bagged 176 seats on its own in 2006 with 37.13 per cent voteshare.
Its key allies, Forward Bloc, RSP and CPI also failed to put up a spirited performance. FB which had contested 34 seats could achieve a success rate of slightly over 32 per cent while RSP and CPI managed to have success rate of 30.43 and 14.2 per cent.
Trinamool Congress not only made a dent into the erstwhile Left strongholds, but also made major inroads among the minorities as the party bagged a majority of the 125 seats where minority community has a sizeable presence.