TMC retains both Balurghat, Gangarampur civic bodies
BALURGHAT: Trinamool Congress (TMC) retained power in both civic bodies of South Dinajpur, Balurghat and Gangarampur. Significantly, the saffron party drew a blank in both the civic bodies.
In Balurghat, out of 25 wards, the TMC won 23 wards. The Left Front managed to secure two seats. In Gangarampur, the TMC won all 18 wards.
On the day of the poll on February 27, the BJP state president and Balurghat Lok Sabha MP Sukanta Majumdar was seen moving from one ward to another with his convoy and security personnel allegedly to influence the voters. However, Majumdar failed to secure victory for his party candidate even from his own ward. In ward no 22, the BJP candidate Santonu Chowdhury was placed in the third position, leaving Majumdar in an ignominious situation.
Pradipta Chakraborty, the South Dinajpur women TMC president, was elected from the ward with a margin of 511 votes by defeating the Left Front candidate Apurba Chakraborty. The LF candidates won from wards—17 and 20—in Balurghat.
Heavyweight TMC candidate Prashanta Mitra, the younger brother of state Agricultural Marketing minister Biplab Mitra, won from the ward number 7.
In the last Balurghat civic polls in 2013, the TMC had captured 14 seats and formed the board. Similarly in 2015, the TMC bagged all 18 wards in Gangarampur.
After winning from ward number 12 in Balurghat, TMC's candidate Biplab Khan said: "We attained the victory in Balurghat for the plethora of development projects that have been undertaken by our Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during her three-term tenure of ruling for the common people of Bengal and the voters voted positively in favour of our candidates. Now, it is our responsibility to work up to their expectations. We will surely concentrate on carrying out the development works for the Balurghat residents after forming the board."
