Fight for No. 2: Vote share up, Left says it’ll boost cadre

A senior CPI(M) leader said, “In this election, we might have won two seats but our main fight was to secure at least second position in terms of vote share and mobilise the youth whose confidence we gained during Covid-19. We are happy with this result. This will give confidence to our cadre.”

Veteran CPI(M) Rabin Deb said many people voted for the Left despite “huge violence and rigging”. He added, “We will use this experience and will fight the rest of the civic elections. After the results, TMC goons started attacking and ransacking our party offices. Many of our cadres were injured. The TMC continued the attacks even after getting a huge majority in the Kolkata civic polls.”

CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty alleged, “The election was nothing but a farce. Despite taking the help of the police, the administration, goons and the state election commission, the TMC failed to win 100 per cent of the seats. If the polls were held in a free and fair manner then TMC would have lost many seats.”

Many in the Left believe that the party’s marginally improved performance was down to bringing young leaders to the fore and the work done by the party’s “Red Volunteers” during the Covid-19 pandemic.

State BJP president Sukanta Majumdar dismissed any notion that the Left had overtaken his party, and claimed that the TMC had simply returned the favour after Left voters mobilised against the BJP in the Assembly polls.

“Trinamool is stronger in Kolkata and Howrah. That is why separate votes have been cast here before. If you go to the districts, you will see that we are strong in many places. We will occupy Siliguri or Asansol board. An illusion is being created among the people that the CPI(M) is the main opposition, not the BJP.”

He added, “We are the main Opposition. The Left had helped the TMC in the Assembly elections by not voting for the BJP. This time, the Trinamool returned the favour.”

Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, tweeted, “Congratulations to @CEOWestBengal Sourav Das for making royal nephew of Bengal’s prediction come true. Important Steps taken by you such as EVM without VVPAT, CCTV without connection and last but not the least; allowing an atmosphere of fear to prevail with @KolkataPolice’s help.”

As per State Election Commission (SEC) data, the Left polled 11.87 per cent of the votes in the KMC elections (the CPM’s share being 9.63 per cent) and the BJP received only 9.19 per cent of the votes. Meanwhile, the Left came second in 65 wards and the saffron party finished runners-up in 48.

The BJP’s comparative vote share was 6 per cent below the 2015 KMC polls, and 20 per cent less than the Assembly elections.

The Left received 13 per cent fewer votes compared to the 2015 civic polls but 7 per cent more than it got in the Assembly elections.