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Firozabad gives edge to Cong, SP reels
Shahira Naim
Tribune News Service

Trinomool Congress candidate Boby Hakim flanked by supporters during a celebration after his victory from the Alipore assembly seat in Kolkata on Tuesday. — PTI

Lucknow, November 10
Winning the Firozabad Parliamentary seat by a comfortable margin of over 85,000 votes, Raj Babbar has managed a triple advantage.

He has caused Samajwadi party a huge loss of prestige. It is now for all to see that despite putting all his might Mulayam Singh Yadav and company could not recapture the seat for his bahu Dimple Yadav and lost in the heart of his own ‘potato belt’.

Secondly, Babbar has clearly resurrected his political career. Amar Singh and Sanjay Dutt have described him a ghaddar (traitor) in their public meetings. However, the voter seems to have believed Govinda’s description of Babbar being “khuddar” (self respecting). If Rahul Gandhi sticks to his promise given at the public rally at Firozabad Babbar would occupy the seat next to the youth icon inside the Lok Sabha.

Perhaps most significant outcome of this victory of one more Lok Sabha seat in Lok Sabha is the cutting of the Samajwadi party to size. The tally of MPs inside the Lok Sabha now equals that of the Congress from UP. Both the parties have 22 MPs from UP with BSP, following with 20 MPs.

Almost from the very beginning, it was a direct fight between Dimple Yadav and Raj Babbar with BSP’s Dr SP Singh Baghel, another ex-SP man, fighting for the third position.

CPM draws blank in West Bengal
Tribune News Service

Kolkata, November 10
Left Front major, the CPM, today suffered yet another setback following their debacle in the West Bengal Assembly byelections, the results of which were announced today. Riding the winds of change, the Trinamool Congress and ally Congress bagged eight of the 10 seats handing out another humiliating defeat to the CPM, which drew a blank. The party contested in five of the 10 seats.

The Trinamool Congress, which fielded candidates in seven seats, made a clean sweep winning all of them. The Congress, which contested three, won only one when it retained Sujapur assembly seat in Malda and lost its sitting Goalpukur seat in Dinajpur to the Forward Bloc, which Priya Dasmunsi’s wife Deepa won in the 2006.

The remaining two seats went to Forward Bloc (Goalpukur) and the GMM-supported Independent candidate (Kalchini).

Cong, BJP bag one each in Rajasthan
Tribune News Service

Jaipur, November 10
The ruling Congress and the BJP won one Assembly seat each in the bypolls to the two seats in the desert state, results of which were declared today. While the Congress retained Salumber Assembly constituency, the BJP wrested Todabheem seat from Kirori Lal Meena, an Independent, in the byelections. In Salumber, Congress candidate Basanti Devi defeated BJP’s Amritlal Meena by 3,098 votes. In Todabheem, BJP candidate Ramesh Meena defeated his nearest Congress rival Shiv Dayal Meena by 8,277 votes.

The bypoll to the two seats was necessitated as the constituencies fell vacant after Kirori Lal got elected to Lok Sabha from Dausa as an Independent and Congress MLA Raghuveer Meena won LS polls from Udaipur. Now, the BJP tally in the state Assembly has gone up to 79 while that of the Congress remains the same at 102.