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ELECTIONS '96

Trinamool Cong maintains lead in Calcutta

Trinamool Congress leaders Mamata Banerjee and Sudip Banerjee maintained a steady lead in the two Calcutta city constituencies while Communist Party of India-Marxist veteran Somnath Chatterjee gained a sizeable lead in Bolpur in Birbhum district, according to counting trends available this evening.

Mamata Banerjee polled about 70 per cent of votes over her CPI-M rival Prasanta Sur after the first round of counting in Calcutta south constituency. She was leading by over 9,000 votes. Sudip Banerjee was leading over his Marxist rival Sarala Maheshwari by over 9,000 votes in the Calcutta northwest constituency.

The CPI-M maintained its lead in Contat, Bolpur and Birbhum. In Bolpur, Chatterjee was leading by over 14,000 votes; in Contat Sudhir Giri was leading by 1,630 votes. In Birbhum, the party was leading by 1,156 votes.

The Rashtriya Samajwadi Party candidates were ahead of their rivals in Alipurdhar and Behrampore constituencies, while the Congress-backed Forward Bloc (Socialist) candidate Govinda Roy was leading by 2,238 votes against veteran Forward Bloc leader and sitting MP Amar Roy Pradhan.