The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has made inroads into West Bengal as it displaced the Left from the second position in the seven civic bodies that went to polls on 13 August. It has now emerged as the strongest Opposition.
While the Trinamool Congress (TMC) swept the polls winning all seven civic bodies, the results of which were announced on 17 August, all eyes were on the BJP which managed to widen its grip on the state.
Of the total 148 wards spread across various pockets of the state, the TMC won an enviable 140 seats and the BJP won six. Left Front partner Forward Bloc won one seat while an independent candidate also emerged victorious.
The CPI(M), which heads the Left Front, and the Congress did not win any seat.
In East Midnapore district, the Trinamool bagged all the 29 wards in Haldia and 17 of the 18 wards in Panskura municipalities. The BJP won one ward in Panskura and finished second in most areas of the two civic bodies.
The Trinamool returned to power by claiming 12 of the 16 wards in Jalpaiguri district’s Dhupguri municipality, while the remaining four went to the BJP.
The Nalhati municipality in Birbhun district also sided with the Trinamool as it finished first in 14 of the 16 wards. The Forward Bloc and an independent candidate won a seat each.
The Trinamool juggernaut rolled in the first-ever polls in Buniadpur municipality in South Dinajpur district, with the ruling party conquering 13 of the 14 wards. The BJP won one ward.
In Durgapur Municipal Corporation of Burdwan West district, Trinamool won all 43 wards.
The Congress was wiped out in its erstwhile bastion Coopers Camp Notified Authority in Nadia district where the TMC won all 12 wards.
The results are a reflection of people’s faith in the TMC government and a befitting reply to the canards spread against us.Partha Chatterjee, TMC Secretary General
On the BJP’s performance, senior TMC leader Gautam Deb said:
The Left Front has shifted its vote to the BJP. The vote share of the TMC is intact, rather we have increased our vote share...It is the Left which is having a tacit understanding with the BJP.
State BJP president Dilip Ghosh, however, said, “We all know that the TMC used money and muscle power to win the elections. We have seen how democracy was subverted by the TMC.
In spite of a reign of terror, we have managed to win seats and come up to the second position.
The Opposition called the civic election results a “farce,” with the Congress and the Left stressing that it was “not a real reflection” of the people’s mandate.
State Congress president Adhir Chowdhury said the TMC was ruling “autocratically.”
What is the use of conducting elections in Bengal? The TMC doesn’t allow free and fair elections. If an Opposition candidate manages to win, they poach him.
“We feel these results are not the reflection of people’s mandate. After the elections were held, we had demanded cancellation of the entire election as it was not free and fair,” senior CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty said.
BJP has been consistently increasing its vote-share in the state. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, it won two seats from West Bengal. In the 2016 Assembly elections, it won four seats, its best performance yet, even as Mamata Banerjee’s TMC swept the polls.
(With inputs from PTI, IANS)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)