Bengal polls
BJP managed to win 5,050 (17.7%) of the gram panchayat and 166 (7.9%) of the panchayat samiti seats. The Left headed by the CPI (M) won 1,480 seats (5.2%) and 32 seats (1.5%) in the gram panchayat and panchayat samiti tiers. Congress managed just 918 (3.2%) and 14 (0.6%) at the two levels, respectively.
Despite the BJP’S distant second position, it made a mark in the former Maoist belts in the districts of Jhargram, Purulia, West Midnapore and Bankura — a region where Banerjee has been highlighting the government’s welfare projects.“the BJP, CPI(M) and Maoists contested together as one. Despite that we have won 90% seats. There was sporadic violence that we never wanted. But out of the 13 people who died, 10 were Trinamool supporters. Not a single BJP worker was killed,” Banerjee said. “BJP has done better in some of the districts that border Bangladesh, Bihar and Jharkhand. They brought in troublemakers from Bangladesh and big money from Bihar, Jharkhand and Assam,” she alleged.
BJP’S Bengal unit chief Dilip Ghosh said the party was advancing steadily. “We will do better in the Lok Sabha polls.”
State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury met governor Keshari Nath Tripathi and pleaded for imposition of President’s Rule, or central intervention as a shield against “internal disturbance.”
The ruling party’s show was far more impressive than its performance in 2013, when the first rural polls were held after TMC swept out the 34-year-old Left Front government in May 2011.
In the 2013 elections, Trinamool had won 25,175 (51.61%) of the gram panchayat seats, 5,306 (57.47%) of the panchayat samiti seats and 531 (64.44%) of the zilla parishad seats. The Left and the Congress suffered the most. After the 2013 polls, the Left came to control two zilla parishads-- Jalpaiguri and North Dinajpur -- while the Congress got hold of Murshidabad. TMC won 13 of the 17 zilla parishads.
Independents (mostly disgruntled Trinamool elements) got seats at the gram panchayat and panchayat samiti level that were more than both the Left and the Congress. This year, the ruling party seemed set to control all 20 zilla parishads.
In Tarakeswar of Hooghly district and Majdia of Nadia, ruling party supporters allegedly stormed counting centres. In several districts, and clashes erupted between the supporters of the Congress and BJP.
Elections were held in 20 districts. Of the 58,692 seats up for grabs, in as many as 20,076 (34.3%) opposition candidates could not file nominations — something that opposition parties attributed to violence unleashed by ruling party supporters. The Supreme Court has directed the state election commission not to announce the results in those seats without its consent.