Kolkata: Trinamool Congress MP from Rajya Sabha, Dr Santanu Sen bagged the prestigious post of national president of Indian Medical Association (IMA).

Dr Sen, who had been the general secretary of IMA in Bengal for several years, will now take forward the legacy of Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy, who became the first national president of IMA from Bengal. IMA is the biggest organisation of doctors in the country.

It may be mentioned that Dr Sen is the ninth Bengali to win the post of national president after a gap of 14 years.

It was not an easy task for even an able administrator like Dr Sen to achieve this milestone as the BJP had unleashed a relentless propaganda ever since he filed his nomination.

The total number of members of IMA in the country stands at 3.3 lakhs. There were a total of 2,902 voters who were also the members of Central Council of the IMA. The total votes polled remained at 2,365. Apart from Sen, Dr R D Dubey also contested the election from Bengal. Dr Haris Gupta, a BJP supported candidate came second with only 377 votes.

Dr Dubey managed to get 120 votes, while Dr Sen came out victorious with 1,832 votes. He defeated Gupta by a huge margin. Dr R V Asokan from Kerala got elected as the secretary general. Dr Sen will take charge in Bangalore on 28 December.

"IMA was born in Kolkata in 1928. Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy was the first national IMA president from Bengal. Sir Nilratan Sircar was the second from Bengal. I am fortunate enough to be the 9th person from Bengal to be elected as the national president. BJP politicised this election. Union ministers like Dr Harsh Vardhan and J P Nadda nakedly campaigned for my opponent candidate Dr Haris Gupta.

"Despite all their efforts, I won a triangular fight and our entire national panel came out victorious," Dr Sen said.

It may be mentioned that Dr Sudipto Roy was the last person from Bengal to become the national president of the largest organisation of doctors from 2004-2005.