The Opposition parties, already in disarray after the Lok Sabha election debacle, were caught in a keen contest among themselves for the post of member in the general council of the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC).

As a norm, a Rajya Sabha member is selected through consensus and no elections are held for the post. But on Wednesday, the Congress’s Pradeep Bhattacharya, the Trinamool Congress’s Dola Sen and the CPI(M) candidate Elamaram Kareem were in the fray for the post. Ms. Sen won the contest with 90 votes and Mr. Bhattacharya was the runner-up with 46. Mr. Kareem got only eight votes.

The total votes cast were 156, of which 12 votes were declared invalid.

Sources said an attempt was made by the Trinamool Congress to reach out to the Congress and the CPI(M) on Tuesday night to avoid election. It proposed that the CPI(M) be allowed to take the seat. “The Congress out of sheer arrogance refused. They said that they will win and later resign from the seat,” a senior Opposition leader said.

The Trinamool has only 13 members in the House, while the Congress has 46 and the two Left parties together have seven members.

“This lack of synergy between three leading Opposition parties further show the state or incoherence we are in,” a top Opposition leader said.