Kolkata: Trinamool’s veteran warhorse Mala Roy increased her 2019 lead as she swept Kolkata South, securing a margin of 1.9 lakh votes over her nearest competitor, BJP’s Debasree Chowdhury.
“There’s no Modi storm here. Many could not believe that Trinamool would win in such a way. But we were confident from the beginning. People have supported our development policies, kept faith on Mamata Banerjee and protested against the Centre depriving the state,” Roy said outside the St Thomas Boys School counting venue on Tuesday.
Banerjee had won the seat for six consecutive terms from 1991 — first as the youth Congress leader and then as the founder of Trinamool — before she passed on the baton to Subrata Bakshi who won the 2011 by-election and then in 2014.Mala Roy, who won in 2019, has managed to maintain TMC’s stranglehold on the seat.
Sources said Trinamool led comfortably in all assembly segments just like it did last time. “We trailed in three wards at Rasbehari and Mudiali. Otherwise, we led in all other 56 wards,” said a worker.