On a day Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee was isolated in her opposition to Pranab Mukherjee as the presidential candidate, the only news that could have helped her somewhat overcome the blues was her party opening its account in the byelection in UP. Trinamool's Shyam Sundar Sharma defeated RLD's Yogesh Chaudhary in Mant by over 6,800 votes — a result that was also a setback for the ruling SP, whose candidate came third.