Kolkata: As the counting of three-tier panchayat system started on Tuesday and the picture started to become clear by Tuesday evening, the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) took massive lead in several gram panchayat seats pushing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to a distant second.
North Bengal which is said to be the citadel of saffron camp, did not give the BJP much reason to rejoice till the time of reporting as TMC has done extremely well in Alipurduar and Cooch Behar. Though in Darjeeling and Kalimpong TMC didn't open its account till the time of reporting and BJP won one seat in Kalimpong and two seats in Darjeeling so far.
Geeta Hansda defected to TMC
In East Burdwan's Kalna after winning a seat from CPI(M), the candidate Geeta Hansda inside the strong room had defected to TMC making TMC win all the 18 seats there.
Bhangore in South 24 parganas which has been in the headline since the day of filing of nomination started, also witnessed violence on the day one of the counting after Indian Secular Front (ISF) has won the citadel of TMC heavyweight's Saukat Mulla and Arabul Islam.
Apart from Bhangore, incidents of sporadic violence were also reported from other parts of Bengal.
The counting started with tight security early on Tuesday morning but incidents of bombing were reported outside a centre in Diamond Harbour in South 24 parganas. However, reports of injuries were not confirmed.
Nandigram stays with BJP
Nandigram the citadel of Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari stayed with BJP. Talking to the media, Adhikari said that in the name of vote,'loot' has been conducted". In Nandigram they (TMC) could not loot much but in rest of the place the vote was just a farce as vote loot was conducted," said Adhikari.
Poll analysts Biswanath Chakraborty said that in Jungle Mahal area which was also a saffron camp citadel is likely to have a division of vote banks between the opposition.
"The Left Front votes which went to BJP is getting back to Left Front. The Kurmi tribes had fielded an individual candidate. Though TMC could maintain their vote share but opposition vote banks is likely to have a split," mentioned Chakraborty.
Vote for Mamata
TMC national secretary Abhishek Banerjee taking to Twitter said, "The dejection of the combined opposition of BJP, CPIM & INC pales in comparison to the sadness that must be felt by friends from mainstream media. Even a malicious campaign with baseless propaganda to malign the AITC State Government in WB couldn't sway the voters! Grateful to the people for converting Oppn’s ‘NO VOTE TO MAMATA’ campaign to ‘NOW VOTE FOR MAMATA.’ With unwavering support to #TrinamooleNaboJowar, we'll surely have a roaring mandate, paving the way for LS elections. Bengal, I thank you for all the love.#GramBanglayTMC."
Till the time of reporting TMC has won 2,127 out of 3,317 gram panchayats. BJP has won 184, Left Front 78, Congress 76, ISF 8, others 58 and hung is 30.
After completion of Gram Panchayat counting, counting of ballot will be done for Panchayat Samiti and then Zilla Parishad before the actual picture gets cleared
