Elections 98

State:	West Bengal
Constituency:	Bankura
Total Votes Polled:	766640
Winner: CPM	Acharia Basudeb	369695
Runner Up: BJP	Sukumar Banerjee	258112
Margin: 111583 (30%)

Elections 96

State:	West Bengal
Constituency:	Bankura
Total Votes Polled:	774916
Winner: CPM	Acharia Basudeb	420402
Runner Up: INC	Gouri Sankar Dey	191415
Margin: 228987 (30.63%)

Basudeb Acharya has been winning this seat for the CPI-M since 1977, thus making it six times in a row. In 1996 he defeated the Congress's Gouri Sankar Dey by 229,000 votes.