Kolkata: The ruling Trinamool Congress headed for a landslide victory in the West Bengal civic polls as it won 13 out of 107 municipalities and was leading in 40 other bodies, an SEC official said on Wednesday.
The ruling party in the state won Kanthi Municipality, the stronghold of Leader of Opposition and BJP MLA from Nandigram Suvendu Adhikari, while Hamro Party, a new entrant in hill politics, defeated TMC, GJM and BJP to win the Darjeeling Municipality.
The BJP, the Left Front and the Congress are yet to win a civic body, although the parties have won a few wards in some cities.
A State Election Commission (SEC) official said, “TMC has already won 13 municipalities and is leading in 40 others.”
The party has won all the civic bodies in Birbhum district, and five in Cooch Behar, two in South 24 Parganas and one in Purba Medinipur.
Suvendu Adhikari and his family faced a major setback as the TMC snatched Kanthi Municipality, which was considered to be the backyard of the Adhikari family for the past four decades.
LOP’s father Shishir Adhikari was the chairman of the municipality for 25 years from 1971-2009 except for five years from 1981-86. After becoming an MP, he handed over the command to his younger son Dibyendu Adhikari.
After Dibyendu Adhikari became an MP in a by-election in 2016, his younger brother Soumendu took over.
Hamro Party (Our Party), a new party formed by Ajoy Edwards, a former leader of the GNLF and a popular restaurateur in Darjeeling, defeated traditional forces Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, BJP and TMC to gain municipality in the hill town.
Elections were scheduled in 108 municipalities, but a few days ago, TMC won unopposed in Dinhata municipality in Cooch Behar district.
There was widespread violence, rigging and clashes with police in different parts of West Bengal from north to south in one of the most extensive election exercises in the state since the assembly elections last year.
The BJP termed the election process a “joke of democracy” and called for a 12-hour bandh on Monday to protest the violence. The TMC termed the allegations as baseless and said the opposition parties were trying to find excuses sensing the defeat.
This story has been published without modification in text from a wire agency feed. Only the title has been changed.
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