A huge crack emerged in the Left Front citadel in West Bengal as ruling Left Front got a severe drubbing and Trinamool Congress-Congress alliance appeared well on way to scripting an unprecedented success in the Lok Sabha election bagging 15 of the 30 seats.
Out of the total of 42 constituencies, the combine was also ahead in 12 other constituencies while Trinamool's only Left ally Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI) won Joynagar (SC) seat, its first ever entry into Lok Sabha.
Trinamool Congress bagged 11 seats and Congress four. Left Front managed to bag 13 seats and was leading only in three constituencies.
Dominant LF partner CPI-M won seven seats followed by RSP, Forward Bloc and CPI-two each.
This was the first-ever major poll debacle for the CPI-M-led Front since 1984 Lok Sabha poll when Congress had won 16 seats in the wake of assassination of Indira Gandhi.
Senior BJP leader and former External Affairs minister Jaswant Singh inflicted a humiliating defeat on his nearest CPM rival Jibesh Sarkar by over 2.97 lakh votes in Darjeeling constituency, thanks to the support of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha which was spearheading a movement for a separate Gorkhaland in the hills.
