KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress on Friday managed to retain the Contai(South) assembly seat and also managed to increase their victory margin, but it is the BJP which gained politically by securing about 30 per cent of the total votes polled in the by-election held on April 9.BJP leadership is upbeat despite their defeat on Friday because it is the saffron brigade which emerged as principal opposition to the ruling party as far as today's poll results are concerned."You can now say that Trinamool Congress has defeated BJP and not any Left party at Contai which was Trinamool's stronghold even during Left Front government regime. We have got 52843 votes against 95369 obtained by Trinamool Congress. Both CPI and Congress have lost their election deposits as they got less than 10 per cent of the total votes polled. Today's results clearly indicates that it is our party BJP and not any other political party which will challenge Mamata Banerjee in the coming elections in Bengal. CPIM and Congress had lost their political relevance long ago and today's results proved that again," jubilant BJP state president Dilip Ghosh said after poll results were out.It is Ghosh who had to face criticisms from his own party leaders for inducting expelled CPIM leader and Haldia strongman Lakshman Seth into the BJP some few months ago. BJP insiders on Friday admitted clearly that Seth had helped the saffron brigade a lot to increase their votes in a constituency like Contai which was considered to be Trinamool stronghold even during CPIM rule.Seth was considered to be a villain after the Nandigram massacre in which 14 persons were killed in in 2007 following a land movement against forcible acquisition by the then Left Front government. The CPIM later expelled Seth as he was the principal mover for acquisition of land for setting up of a SEZ by an Indonesia-based Salim Group.It is Ghosh who had induced Seth into BJP and " we have no hesitation to admit that Seth and his followers had helped a lot to increase our vote share at Contai," admitted a senior BJP leader preferring anonymity.During last November's by-election in Cooch Behar lok sabha seat, the BJP had secured about 30 per cent of the total votes polled and lost the seat to Trinamool Congress. On Friday, BJP faced with a similar situation and secured about 30 per cent votes and has manages to send signals among Bengal electors that they have already emerged as key opposing to Mamata Banerjee and in the coming polls the fight will remain confined between Trinamool Congress and BJP.There is a staunch criticism against the saffron brigade in Bengal recently for mixing politics and religion. The RSS had organised a number of armed rallies across the state during Ramnavami last week. Mamata's government has also lodged the complaint against BJP Chief Dilip Ghosh for demonstrating arms in a rally at his Assembly constituency of Kharagpur.Trinamool Congress is constantly campaigning against BJP for bringing communal politics in Bengal. But Friday's by-election results indicated clearly that BJP got the second position in Contai despite a continuous campaign against them for depending on communal politics.Friday's results made it clear that the BJP has got votes of disgruntled CPIM and Congress supporters and thus managed to increase their vote share. The CPIM and Congress had contested last year's assembly polls jointly and together they had got about 34 per cent of the total votes polled in Contai. But both the parties have lost their election deposits as both got less than 10 per cent votes during bypolls held on April 9. This is now certain that the majority of the votes obtained by the two parties last year, have gone to BJP this year and the fight at Contai remained confined between Trinamool Congress and BJP.Interestingly, Trinamool Congress has managed to increase their votes by about 2 per cent in this by-election. In 2016, Trinamool Congress had got about 53 per cent of total votes polled in Contai which has gone up to about 55 per cent in the by polls.Trinamool Congress has got 95369 votes against 52843 votes obtained by the BJP. The CPI which contested the seat as a Left Front partner got 17423 votes. The Congress which contested the by polls independently without CPIM's support got just 2270 votes.Interestingly, Mamata Banerjee herself didn't campaign for her candidate and former health minister Chandrima Bhattacharjee who won the polls today. BJP, on the other hand, deployed its central leaders like Kailash Vijayvargiya who campaigned for the party nominee Sourindramohan Jana who was a former Trinamool Congress activist and had joined the BJP recently.