Trinamool Congress snatches Nandigram from Left by huge margin

Kolkata, Jan 9 (IANS) West Bengal's principal opposition party Trinamool Congress Friday wrested the Nandigram assembly constituency from the ruling Left Front by a huge margin in the Jan 5 by-poll.

The area has achieved notoriety in the last two years for the violence associated with the aborted land acquisition for a chemical engineering complex.

Trinamool Congress nominee Firoza Bibi won by a margin of 39,551 votes over her nearest rival, Paramananda Bharati of the Communist Party of India (CPI).

Firoza secured 93,022 votes, while Bharati managed 53,471. The BJP candidate lost his deposit.

Firoza is the mother of Indadul, who died in the Mar 14, 2007, police firing in the area. Bharati is a veteran teacher in the area.

Nandigram in the state's East Midnapur district has been a traditional stronghold of the CPI.

The by-poll was necessitated by the resignation of sitting CPI member Sheikh Mohammed Ilyas following his alleged involvement in a bribery case. A sting operation by a television channel had shown him apparently accepting a bribe of Rs.10,000 from an NGO for development work in his area.

Congress nominee Mausam Benazir Noor, daughter of deceased party legislator Rubi Noor, was ahead by over 14,000 votes in by-poll to the Sujapur Assembly seat in Malda district over Communist Party of India - Marxist (CPI-M) candidate Haji Ketabuddin.

The CPI-M was leading in Para in Purulia district.