West Bengal Assembly Election

Trinamul pushes out CPI-M in Cooch Behar

At last, the Trinamul Congress came up as an advanced force in Cooch Behar district. In nine Assembly seats the Trinamul Congress bagged four seats and the Congress one while the Forward Bloc got four seats.

The CPI-M failed to retain its seats. Among the party's defeated candidates there is state forest minister Mr Ananta Ray who contested from Mathabhanga. As expected, Trinamul Congress candidate Mr Binay Krishna Barman defeated him.

In the Asssembly elections of 2006 the Trinamul Congress got only one seat at Dinhata and the Congress got the Sitai seat. The left Front retained seven seats except the two. This time the situation turned worse for the leftists. Following the wind of change the Trinamul Congress gained four seats, the Congress retained its Sitai seat and the Forward bloc regained its Dinhata seat that it lost in 2006.

Cooch Behar MP (Rajya Sabha) and district secretariat member of the CPI-M Mr Tarini Ray admitted that the outcome is very poor in the district and in the state too. At the same time he also admitted that their result is poorer than the Forward Bloc's. The party will review the situation to study the main reasons behind, Mr Ray added.

State food and supply minister and also a senior Forward Bloc leader Mr Paresh Adhikary retained his Mekhliganj seat. In his opinion the outcome is the result of the 'wind of change'. Common people reacted sharply against the rude and impolite behaviour of many senior leaders of the LF, he believes.

District Trinamul Congress president Mr Rabindra Nath Ghosh attributed the achievement as the victory of grass-root level people led by Ms Mamata Banerjee against the CPI-M's tyrannical rule of 34 years.

A senior leader of Cooch Behar district Congress and also the chairman of Cooch Behar Municipality Mr Biren Kundu said after so many years anti-leftists came to power in the state. The Congress-Trinamul Congress alliance got five seats out of nine in this district. The Congress retained its Sitai seat. It is indeed a success against the anti-people Left Front, he said.

As the wind of change made the Trinamul Congress happy, it also appeared as blessing to the Forward Bloc candidate Mr Udayan Guha as he regained the FB's seat at Dinhata.

The winners of the Trinamul Congress are : Mr Rabindra Nath Ghosh (Natabari), Mr Binay Krishna Barman (Mathabhanga), Mr Hiten Barman (Sitalkuchi) and Mr Arghya Ray Pradhan (Tufanganj). The winner of the Congress is Mr Keshab ray (Sitai). The Forward Bloc's winners are : Mr Paresh Adhikary, Mr Udayan Guha, Mr Akshoy Thakur and Mr Nagendra Nath Barman.