Kolkata:
The Trinamool Congress retained its stronghold Kolkata South Lok Sabha seat in a bypoll on Sunday, with party candidate Subrata Bakshi trouncing his nearest of India-Marxist (CPI-M) opponent by a massive margin of over 2.30 lakh votes.
Bakshi, who is the state Trinamool Congress president, won the by-poll against the CPI-M's young face Ritabrata Banerjee. The three Independents in the fray lost their deposits.
The by-poll which was held on November 30 was necessitated by West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee's resignation from the Lok Sabha seat after she won the Assembly by-election from Bhawanipur two months back.
The Trianmool's strength in the Lok Sabha now goes up to 19 making it the largest constituent of the Centre's Congress-UPA government. The DMK has one less seat than the Trinamool Congress.
The constituency has consistently elected Mamata Banerjee to the Lower House of Parliament half a dozen times over the past 20 years. She won as a Congress candidate in 1991 and1996 and on a Trinamool ticket in 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2009.
In the previous election two years back, Banerjee had humbled her nearest opponent Rabin Deb of the CPI-M by a margin of 219,571 votes. The seat has been been held by Mamata Banerjee since 1991.