Kolkata: In a historic first for the CPM, Deblina Hembram has been elected as the party’s first-ever female district secretary in West Bengal. She has been chosen to lead the Bankura district committee.

Deblina Hembram, an Adivasi woman, is currently a member of the CPM Central Committee as well as the State Secretariat. She previously served as the Minister for Tribal Welfare in the Buddhadeb Bhattacharya-led Cabinet.

Other contenders for the position included former DYFI national secretary Abhay Mukherjee and former chairman of the Bankura Zilla Parishad, Partha Pratim Majumdar. However, to avoid a contest, CPM State secretary Mohammed Salim and former district secretary Amiya Patra intervened and proposed Deblina Hembram as the consensus candidate.