Trinamool wins both seats in Bengal assembly by-polls

Kolkata, June 15 (IANS) West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) Friday retained the Daspur and Bankura assembly seats where by-polls were held Tuesday.

However, the Trinamool's winning margin has come down in both the constituencies compared to the results in the assembly polls last year. In Bankura constituency in Bankura district, Trinamool candidate Minati Mishra humbled her nearest rival Nilanjan Dasgupta of Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) by 1,51,39 votes. In 2011, Trinamool nominee Kashinath Mishra had won the seat by trouncing his CPI-M opponent by over 30,000 votes. Minati is Kashinath's widow.

Trinamool's Mamata Bhunia was elected from Daspur in West Midnapore district by bagging over 19,000 votes more than CPI-M's Samar Mukherjee. Last year, Mamata'a husband Ajit Bhunia had won the constituency on a Trinamool ticket with a margin of 25,927 votes. The assembly constituencies fell vacant following the deaths of Ajit Bhunia and Kashinath Mishra.