By Najam Gilani, TwoCircles.net,
Patna: A management graduate and a lawyer by profession Mausam Benazir Noor, niece of late ABA Ghani Khan Choudhury, veteran Congress leader and former union minister, retained family bastion of Sujapur Assembly seat in Malda district of West Bengal.
The bypoll for the seat was held on January 5 along with two other Assembly seats in the state, and results were declared on January 9.
The seat fell vacant after the death of Congress legislator from Sujapur Rubi Noor – mother of Mausam Benazir Noor and sister of late Congress leader Ghani Khan Choudhury – in July last year.
By defeating her rival Haji Ketabuddin of CPM with 21,000 votes Mausam Benazir Noor surpassed the victory margin of her deceased mother in the 2004 assembly elections by over 4,000 votes.
Talking to TwoCircles.net sitting Lok Sabha MP from Malda Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury, a close relative of Mausam Noor, said that it is a victory of the Congress party, victory of the Congress President Ms Sonia Gandhi because she visited the constituency in May last year and it’s the victory of the tireless efforts, charm and charisma of late ABA Ghani Khan Chowdhury. Mausam Noor could not be available for comments.
President of the women’s wing of West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee Ms Maitreyi Saha told TCN: “There is no denying the fact that charm of late ABA Ghani Khan Chowdhury family is difficult to resists for the voters of Malda.”
He contributed in a large way to the development of Malda district and played a major role in the construction of the metro rail in Kolkata. Ghani Khan held the portfolios of Coal and Energy, Railways and Programme Implementation in the Union Cabinet from 1980 to 1987 and was a Minister in the State Cabinet from 1971 to 1977. He was elected to the Lok Sabha from Malda for eight consecutive terms and to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly for five times.
As a tribute to the late Congress leader, Trinamul Congress had decided not to field their candidate for the Sujapur Assembly seat.