Kolkata, May 31: West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress on Thursday retained the Maheshtala Assembly seat with an impressive margin, while the BJP took the second spot by displacing the CPI-M.

Trinamool candidate Dulal Das trounced his nearest rival Bharatiya Janata Party's Sujit Kumar Ghosh by 62,896 votes.

While Das bagged 1,04,818 votes, Ghosh received the support of 41,992 voters.

Left Front-spearhead Communist Party of India-Marxist aspirant Pravat Chowdhury, backed by the Congress, managed to obtain 30,316 votes in the triangular contest.

In the 2016 Assembly polls, CPI-M's heavyweight candidate Shamik Lahiri had gone down by 12,452 votes to Trinamool's Kasturi Das in the constituency.

The CPI-M-led Left Front had entered into an alliance with the Congress then, and the BJP received only seven percent of the valid votes.

Kasturi Das's demise caused the by-election.

Dulal, Kasturi's husband and chairman of the Maheshtala municipality, led from the outset, and went on consolidating his position after every round.

 

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Johannesburg, Nov 15: India beat South Africa by 135 runs in the fourth and final T20 International to clinch series 3-1 here on Friday.

Opting to bat, India posted a massive 283 for 1, thanks to unbeaten centuries from Tilak Varma (120 not out off 47 balls) and Sanju Samson (109 not out off 56 balls), and then bowled South Africa out for 148 in 18.2 overs.

Tristan Stubbs top-scored for South Africa with 46 while David Miller contributed 36.

For India, pacer Arshdeep Singh was the most successful bowler with figures of 3/20 while Varun Chakravarthy (2/42) and Axar Patel (2/6) got two wickets each.

Hardik Pandya, Ramandeep Singh and Ravi Bishnoi got a wicket each.

Brief Scores:

India: 283 for 1 in 20 overs (Sanju Samson 109 not out, Tilak Varma 120 not out; Lutho Sipamla 1/58).

South Africa: 148 all out in 18.2 overs (Tristan Stubbs 46, David Miller 36; Arshdeep Singh 3/20).