Kolkata: The ruling Trinamool Congress secured a landslide victory by winning 102 out of 108 municipal bodies that went for polls on February 27 out of which 31 municipalities had no opposition. The BJP who emerged as the main opposition by winning 77 Assembly seats couldn’t win even a single municipal body.
The Congress also failed to win a municipal body but the Left Front has won the Taherpur municipality in Nadia district. Interestingly, a newly formed Humro party won Darjeeling municipality.
Ahead of leaving for Varanasi to campaign for Samajwadi Party, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee thanked people for keeping ‘faith’ in the Trinamool Congress.
Calling it an ‘overwhelming mandate’, Mamata congratulated all the winning candidates.
“Heart-felt gratitude to Ma-Mati-Manush for according yet another overwhelming mandate to us. Congratulations to the winning candidates of All India Trinamool Congress in the Municipal Elections. Let victory enhance our responsibility and dedication. Let triumph impart humility. Let us work together for peace, prosperity and development of the state. Jai Bangla!,” said Mamata.
Commenting about the alleged violence in the state during the poll, Banerjee said, “A section of the media overhyped stray incidents and the allegation was baseless. Civic polls are celebrated as a festival of democracy. Poll took place at 11000 booths out of which stray incidents took place in only seven to eight booths,” mentioned the Chief Minister.
Incidentally, after the Trinamool Congress, independent candidates also did well by winning one municipal body.
It can be recalled that after being denied ticket to contest the polls, several TMC cadres had fielded themselves as independent candidates and speculations are on that they might rejoin TMC. However, Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) Mayor Firhad Hakim claimed that no such decision has been taken.
It can be noted that the stronghold of Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari at Contai Municipal Corporation has also been won by the Trinamool Congress. Several wards in the stronghold of Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chwodhury in Berhampore have also been won by the TMC.
BJP spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya claimed that the rigging during the poll by the ruling party led to the landslide victory.
“In Contai several seats were won by the BJP despite the atrocities of the ruling party. The violence leveled by the TMC during polls is seen by everyone and that led to this number for TMC,” alleged Bhattacharya.
Senior CPI (M) leader and politburo member Sujan Chakraborty sarcastically said that he thought that TMC would win all 108 municipal bodies after the ‘violence’.
“It is amazing to see that CPI (M) had managed to win a single body despite the obstruction by the TMC. The fight will soon be between the TMC and the CPI (M),” claimed Chakraborty.
According to political analyst Sampa Sen, the TMC would have won lesser seats had there been no ‘violence’ during the polls.
