Trinamool takes Bengal by storm

West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress put up a spectacular show, sweeping the Lok Sabha polls in the eastern state to emerge as the fourth-largest party in the Indian parliament. The BJP signalled its rise as a force by eating into the vote share of the Left Front which was nearly wiped out. The Congress, however, put up a stubborn fight to hold on to its pockets of strength in the state. Of the state’s 42 seats, the Trinamool picked up 34, recording its best performance as it nearly doubled its 19 seat tally of 2009. However, while five years back, the Trinamool had an alliance with the Congress, this time it fought the polls alone. The Trinamool’s strength in the Lok Sabha would be after the Bharatiya Janata Party (286), Congress (47) and the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu (37). The Congress won four seats, while the BJP and the Left front spearhead Communist Party of India-Marxist collected two each. In the previous Lok Sabha polls in 2009, the then Trinamool-Congress-Socialist Unity Centre of India-Communist (SUCI-C) alliance had won 26 seats. The Congress got six seats, while the SUCI-C won in one constituency. The Left Front had got 15 seats, with the CPI-M securing nine and other partners - the Communist Party of India, the Revolutionary Socialist Party, and the Forward Bloc - the remaining, according to bdnews24.com.