By-polls: Mamata fails to storm Adhir's bastion

Kolkata, Feb 28: The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) shared the laurels with the opposition Congress and the Left Front in the three assembly by-elections that took place in

on February 23.

The TMC won the English Bazar seat in Malda where Krishnendu Narayan Chowdhury, the former Congress MLA who joined the TMC later, won by over 20,000 votes. But the party failed to produce any magic in the prestige battle in Rejinagar in Murshidabad where its candidate Humayun Kabir, also a former Congress member who changed parties, lost by over 11,000 votes.

Kabir, a former loyalist of the heavyweight Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, joined the TMC and became a state minister. He was confident of defeating the Congress in Chowdhury's den but couldn't ultimately deliver.

The third seat, Nalhati, which fell vacant after Abhijeet Mukherjee, son of President Pranab Mukherjee became an MP from Jangipur, went to the Left Front. Forward Bloc's Dipak Chatterjee won the bye-election by over 7,700 votes. The TMC candidates finished third in both Rejinagar and Nalhati.

Congress wins Mizoram by-poll

Congress's Ngurdingliana won the Chalfilh assembly by-poll by a margin of 2,834 votes. This is the biggest victory margin recorded in this seat since 1972 when Mizoram first had a separate legislature. Ngurdingliana received 7,005 votes out of 13,703 while his competitor Hmar got 4.171 votes. The winning candidate is the son of former assembly Speaker Dr H Thansanga, who had also won from this constituency twice in the past.

The by-poll took place on February 23.

Shiromani Akali Dal candidate wins Moga by-poll

Shiromani Akali Dal candidate Joginderpal Jain defeated Vijay Saathi of the Congress by nearly 19,000 votes to emerge victorious in the by-election for the Moga Assembly constituency in Punjab.

JD(U) retains Kalyanpur

The JD(U) retained the Kalyanpur assembly seat in Samastipur district of Bihar after its candidate Manju Kumari beat Rekha Devi of LJP by 16,432 votes. The RJD had supported Rekha in the by-poll held on February 24. The seat had fallen vacant after the death of JD(U) MLA Ram Sevak Hazari.

OneIndia News

(With PTI inputs)