Clean sweep for TMC in Bengal civic polls, BJP distant 2nd, LF wiped out
Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) swept on Thursday the August 13 municipal polls in West Bengal by winning all the seven civic bodies. The BJP finished second in most places while the Left was down to third position. The BJP won six seats in three municipalities which included four in Dhupguri in north Bengal and one each in Buniyadpur (north Bengal) and Panskura in south Bengal. TMC also bagged key seats in Panskura and Haldia in East Midnapore district, Nalhati in Birbhum, Buniyadpur in South Dinajpur and Dhupguri in Jalpaiguri districts.
TMC also registered a massive victory in Durgapur Municipal Corporation in Burdwan West district capturing all the 43 wards, besides Cooper’s Camp where it won all the 12 seats. In Haldia the party got elected in all the 29 seats. The Left put up a poor show with the Forward Bloc, a front partner, winning just a seat in Nalhati municipality. The Congress failed to open its account in this round of civic polls. In Haldia municipality, once considered as a Left bastion, TMC outclassed the opposition and won all the 29 wards securing more than 50 per cent of the total votes polled. Of the 16 seats in Dhupguri municipality in north Bengal, the TMC won 12 seats while the BJP captured four. Out of the 14 wards in Buniyadpur, also in north Bengal, the TMC won 13 and the BJP bagged one seat.
In Nalhati municipality, the TMC won 14 of the 16 wards, while the Left Front and an independent candidate won one ward each.
In 18-member Panskura municipality, the TMC won 17 seats and the BJP managed to secure just one ward. The TMC also won the by-election in a ward in Jhargram municipality. “The results are a reflection of people’s faith in the TMC government and a befitting reply to the canards spread against us,” TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee said.
On the BJP’s performance, senior TMC leader Gautam Deb said: “The Left Front has shifted its vote to the BJP. The vote share of the TMC is intact, rather we have increased our vote share.”
State BJP president Dilip Ghosh, reacted by saying: “We all know that the TMC used money and muscle power to win the elections. We have seen how democracy was subverted by the TMC. In spite of a reign of terror, we have managed to win seats and come up to the second position.”