TMC's Manish Gupta defeats Buddhadeb

Kolkata: Left Front's decimation in West Bengal was complete on Friday with Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee losing the Jadavpur seat to Trinamool Congress candidate Manish Gupta, a former chief secretary.

Manish Gupta, who was chief secretary in 1998 during the tenure of Jyoti Basu and retired in 2001 serving one year under Bhattacharjee, defeated his former boss from the Left bastion of Jadavpur by 15,727 votes. Gupta polled 96,625 votes and Bhattacharjee 80,898.

All the five former Indian Police Service (IPS) officers fielded by the Trinamool Congress won comfortably. Former Additional Director of CBI Upen Biswas, who shot to the limelight for investigating the Bihar fodder scam and arresting RJD chief Lalu Prasad, won the Bagda seat in Nadia district defeating his nearest All India Forward Bloc opponent MK Sikdar by over 20,000 votes.

Another former IPS officer Rachhpal Singh, who as Inspector General (Presidency Range) had lodged an FIR against Mamata Banerjee when she was the Youth Congress president, for violence at a rally in 1994, won the Tarakeshwar seat in Hooghly district defeating CPI(M) candidate Pratim Chatterjee by over 25,000 votes.

Former additional director general of police and TC candidate from Bally seat in Howrah district Sultan Singh defeated his nearest CPI(M) rival Kanika Ganguly by over 5000 votes.

Former IPS officer HA Safwi won the Uluberia Purba seat in Howrah district. Safwi got 68,975 votes while his opponent Mohan Mondal secured 49,391. AM Joardar, another ex-IPS officer defeated his CPI(M) rival S Ghosh from the Krishnagar North by over 35,000 votes.

Besides the former IPS officers, Trinamool had fielded former Calcutta High Court Judge NA Chowdhury. He won from the Muraroi seat defeating his nearest CPI(M) rival Kamre Elahi by over 5000 votes.

The 34-year rule of the Left Front came of end on Friday with Mamata Banerjee leading the Trinamool Congress-Congress combine to a landslide win.

The communist regime had been able to win seven straight Assembly elections in the state but it failed to withstand the 'paribartan' of the Trinamool Congress.