Kolkata: The ruling Left Front appear to be consolidating its position in West Bengal by establishing leads in 31 out of 39 seats the counting for which was taken up this morning (May 13, 2004).

The early trends showed major gains for the Communist Party Marxist (CPM) led Left Front (LF) mainly at the expense of the NDA partners, BJP and Nationalist Trinamool Congress, as the Congress also seems to be gaining in the State by establishing leads in five seats.

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Both the BJP sitting MPs and unions ministers, Tapan Sikdar and Satyabrata Mukherjee, are trailing behind their CPM rivals in Dum Dum and Krishnagar constituencies.

NTC candidates including its chief Mamata Banerjee were leading in only three seats against their eight seats in the previous Lok Sabha.

The early trends indicate LF increasing its strength in the State as they had 29 seats in the previous Lok Sabha seats. Counting for three seats Calcutta Northeast, Diamond Harbour and Murshidabad would be taken up after 2:00 hrs (IST) since repolling was going there. Two of these seats were held by CPM.