With local body polls approaching, West Bengal's ruling communists and their rival Congress joined hands to ensure the win of a Muslim journalist in the Rajya Sabha biennial elections.
Four Left Front candidates also won. The "alliance of supposed archrivals" ensured that the lone Trinamool Congress candidate, Dinesh Trivedi, was defeated.
Ruling Left Front supported-Independent candidate Malihabadi won the seat from West Bengal, halting the re-election of Trivedi. While Trivedi got 31 first-preference votes, Maliahabadi swept the polls with 58 endorsements.
