Left loses post in cross-vote, Nikhil Sahani of TMC elected SMC chairman

New borough chief, Nikhil Sahani. (Passang Yolmo) 

BIRESWAR BANERJEE and AVIJIT SINHA, TT, Siliguri, April 11: Nikhil Sahani of the Trinamul Congress today became the chairman of borough III at the Siliguri Municipal corporation through a toss as he and the Left Front candidate secured five votes each in an election to the post. 

The Left Front candidate, Mousumi Hazra, who had an edge because of the Congress's support, lost the post because of cross-voting. 

While Trinamul and the Left Front have four councillors each in the borough, the Congress has two. The Darjeeling district Congress president issued a whip yesterday instructing both the party councillors to vote for Hazra.

Mayor Asok Bhattacharya said one Congress councillor did not vote for Hazra. "If a no-trust motion is moved, we will prove majority," he added.

A Congress councillor, Sujoy Ghatak, said he didn't understand why the mayor was pointing finger at the Congress when a secret ballot was used for the election.