West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress on Thursday seemed on course to retaining the Maheshtala Assembly seat with an impressive margin, while the BJP was in the second spot by displacing the CPI-M.
After 11 rounds of vote count in Monday's by-poll, Trinamool candidate Dulal Das has taken a 35,000 plus lead over Bharatiya Janata Party's Sujit Kumar Ghosh.
Left Front nominated Communist Party of India-Marxist aspirant Pravat Chowdhury, backed by the Congress, was trailing his BJP rival by over 6,000 votes in the triangular contest.
In the 2016 Assembly polls, CPI-M's heavyweight candidate Shamik Lahiri had finished runner up to Trinamool's Kasturi Das in the constituency.
The CPI-M led Left Front had entered into an alliance with the Congress then
Kasturi Das's demise has caused the by-election.
Dulal is Kasturi's husband.
--IANS
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