In a major boost for the party ahead of the July panchayat elections, the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal today retained the Howrah Lok Sabha seat with a margin of 27,031 votes defeating the CPI(M) and relegating erstwhile ally, Congress, to third spot.
TMC candidate and former India football captain Prasun Banerjee polled 4,26,306 votes while his nearest CPI(M) rival and the party's state secretariat member Sridip Bhattacherje bagged 3,99,275 votes.
Congress which tried to eat into the anti-Left vote contesting alone in a parliamentary election for the first time after the political divorce with Trinamool Congress in 2012, finished third with its candidate Sanatan Mukherjee, a lawyer, polling 96,731 votes.
The CPI(M) which tried to capitalise on the division of votes between Congress and TMC and on the Saradha controversy, was trounced in five of the seven assembly segments though it increased its vote share.
Though the BJP did not contest the election, a local party leader who fought as an Independent, Ranjan Pal, secured 8,914 votes.
TMC polled 44.6 per cent votes, CPI(M) 41.8 per cent and Congress 10.1 per cent.
There were altogether 13 candidates in the fray.
