Trinamool's celebrity duo comes through in poll verdict with comfortable leads

Kolkata: Most of the cine star candidates fielded by Trinamool Congress have put up a spectacular fight and are on the verge of winning the elections from their respective Lok Sabha constituencies, in the face of a strong undercurrent sweeping in favour of BJP across the state.

Many had raised an eyebrow when Trinamool Congress Supremo Mamata Banerjee had announced the names of actors Mimi Chakraborty and Nusrat Jahan as her party candidates for the Lok Sabha elections. The film stars turned politicians have, however, proved their mettle and come out victorious with a fair margin. Both of them were much ahead of their nearest rivals, till the last election result update came in.

Coming from a different background, it was never easy for the celebrity duo to run a relentless campaign in the scorching summer days, fight an electoral battle and bring the political dividend to Trinamool Congress.

Both the Tollywood artistes have contributed immensely to the number of overall seats won by the ruling party in the state. Chakraborty has won from the Jadavpur Lok Sabha constituency at the very heartland of the city, where a four-cornered fight took place.

Veteran CPI(M) leader Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, who was pitted against Chakraborty, had tried his luck in the electoral battle. Anupam Hazra, who switched over to BJP from TMC a few months ahead of the elections, was also in the fray.

Chakraborty is almost on the verge of sealing her victory, as she was leading with 6,87,773 votes while her nearest contestant Hazra managed to get 3,92,610, as of the last update. The CPI(M) candidate Bhattacharya, meanwhile, obtained 3,01,560 votes.

TMC supremo Banerjee had also reposed her faith in Nusrat Jahan to contest the elections from the Basirhat Lok Sabha constituency, where a sizeable number of voters belong to the minority community. The hate campaign carried out by her BJP rival Sayantan Basu against her had provided her with a political edge. Jahan has received 6,17,053 votes according to the latest data available with the Election Commission, with 3,05,218 for Basu and 80,839 for Quazi Abdur Rahim of Congress.

The sitting Trinamool Congress MP from Ghatal Deepak Adhikary alias film actor Dev has managed to retain his seat, when his party has been virtually ousted in the Jangalmahal area. The popular actor seems to have scripted his victory as he was leading with 7,17,959 votes with nearest rival Bharati Ghosh of BJP at 6,09,986 votes during the last update. The Election Commission, however, is yet to declare the winning candidates officially.

Meanwhile, sitting TMC MP from Birbhum Satabdi Roy is leading from the same seat with 6,05,414 votes, whereas her nearest rival BJP's Dudh Kumar Mondal has got 5,32,519. Veteran film star and sitting Trinamool Congress MP from Bankura Moon Moon Sen, however, might lose the battle as she has been trailing by a margin of 1,97,637 votes against BJP's Babul Supriyo.