Kolkata: West Bengal's ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) today (Dec 7, 2006) won the Islampur assembly by-election, defeating the Trinamool Congress by 7,511 votes.

Sayeeda Farhat Afroz won the seat with 47,927 votes against Trinamool's Chaudhry Abdul Karim. Congress candidate Hamidur Rehman finished a poor third.

West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya said the victory was an affirmation of his government's industrialisation policy. The by-election was necessitated by the death of CPI-M legislator Farooq Azam.