Deb says TMC has ‘morally won’ in Darjeeling

SNS, Siliguri, 14 May 2014: North Bengal development minister Gautam Deb has concluded that the Trinamul Congress had “morally won” the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat, though he said the “actual status of my party candidate will be clear only after counting is over.”

Reacting to media reports that predicted results in favour of BJP candidate SS Ahluwalia, Mr Deb told reporters here: “Bhaichung Bhutia (TMC candidate) will win the seat. Please wait for the final results. A Delhi-based television channel predicted results in favour of Bhaichung,” Mr Deb said.

“Bhaichung Bhutia has bagged a huge number votes from different corners, including the GNLF base areas in the Hills. People in the plains extended huge support to Mr Bhutia and he would be able to make a decent lead margin in the plains. The Independent candidate (Mahendra P Lama) will bag good votes from the GJMM-backed BJP’s vote bank. We hope that Bhaichung will be able to make up for his deficit,” he added.“If such a calculation proves wrong at the last moment, we have nothing to do. But we can say the Trinamul Congress has morally won the Darjeeling LS seat,” he said, adding that the Trinamul has been able to restore peace and ‘democratic atmosphere’ in the Hills.“The Left Front chairman and the CPI-M state secretary has acknowledged that democracy had returned in Darjeeling Hills, where political parties campaigned freely this time, and the credit goes to chief minister Mamata Banerjee,” Mr Deb added.