Panchayat polls: TMC breaches Murshidabad, stumbles in Left’s Siliguri

In Birbhum district, out of the nine seats in gram panchayat seven were captured by TMC and remaining two were won by independents. TMC also bagged two seats in panchayat samity for which by-elections were held.

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“We won about 90 per cent of the panchayat seats (across state). We did very well in all the districts. It is a result of the pro-people developmental work that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had taken up. We are looking forward to the Assembly elections now,” said state panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee.

The Left, which had earlier this year captured Siliguri Municipal Corporation, maintained its winning streak. Out of 22 gram panchayat seats, Left Front won seven, TMC four and 11 were hung. The Left is in a position to form board at six hung gram panchayats with the help of Congress. Of the four panchayat samity seats, the Left secured two and the other two remained hung. In the Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad election too, the Left topped the charts winning six out of the nine mahakuma parishads while TMC won in the other three.

TMC, however, showed improved performance in Jalpaiguri, another north Bengal district by bagging three of the six seats in Dhupguri panchayat samity. CPM won two and Congress one. TMC also won four of the eight seats in gram panchayat in Jalpaiguri. Congress bagged three and BJP got one seat.

“We didn’t get the expected result in Siliguri, but our poll percentage has gone up which is a good sign. (Sitting Siliguri mayor) Asok Bhattacharya had resorted to unfair means while campaigning. He had asked people to vote for Congress or BJP if they did not want to vote for CPM,” Subrata Mukherjee said.

An ecstatic Bhattacharya, however, said that the results showed that people were rejecting the TMC. “It proves that the TMC is not invincible. Our slogan was that common people should go out to cast their vote and that the Left was an only viable alternative,” he said.

In West Midnapore, TMC swept 16 gram panchayat seats of the total 19 and all three panchayat samity seats. In Purulia, it secured 11 out of the 12 garm panchayats. In South-24 Parganas, it won nine out of 10 gram panchayats.

In Hoogly too the ruling party maintained its sway securing 22 of the 25 gram panchayats. CPI-M won two and BJP one. All the five panchayat samities, including two in abandoned Nano car factory site Singur, were won by TMC.