West Bengal civic elections: BJP scores 0, to ‘introspect’ poll debacle

The party has asked all its MLAs and district presidents to attend the meeting where they will discuss ways to ramp up its presence in the state. The Trinamool Congress on Wednesday registered a landslide victory in the state municipal polls as it won 102 of 108 urban bodies. Of the 102 civic bodies the TMC won from, there is no opposition in 33. The Left front secured victory in the Taherpur Municipality in Nadia district. However, the BJP and the Congress failed to open their account there. In terms of overall vote share, the TMC received 63 per cent, the Left 14 per cent, BJP 13 per cent, Congress 5 per cent and others 5 per cent.

Senior CPM leader Sujan Chakraborty said the Left front is making a comeback in the state. “The Left parties which had become almost non-existent in West Bengal’s electoral battle are regaining. We are making a comeback in the state despite widespread rigging during the elections. We got a fair share of the votes that were polled despite that,” said Chakraborty.

In last year’s Assembly polls, both the Left and the Congress failed to win a single seat. State BJP president Sukanta Majumdar said, “We don’t accept this result as it does not reflect people’s feelings. The election was a farce. The Left has got more votes because its win was TMC-sponsored. We still have to reflect on the result.” All party leaders will be invited to  voice their opinions, he added.

State Congress president Adhir Chowdhury challenged the TMC to conduct a mock polling in Berhampore Municipality in Murshidabad. “If the Congress loses a single ward , I will quit politics,” he said.