Mamata wins first mandate after Bengal
6 Jun 2012 1:36 AM GMT
Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, voted by a massive mandate to rule West Bengal in the 2011 assemble elections, won four seats out of the six in the municipal election results announced on Wednesday. Dhupguri, Panskura, Nalhati and Durgapur fell on the ruling party’s lap though the party conceded victory to its arch rival, the CPI[M] in Haldia.
Haldia, a key industrial town near Nandigram is where the Left Front captured 15 of 26 wards. The remaining 11 seats went to the TMC. 'This loss is a surprise to us. We will introspect on the mandate of the people. However, TMC’s win in Dhupguri comes as a pleasant surprise,' cabinet minister and senior leader of the TMC, Subrata Mukherjee told Millennium Post. Banerjee had supported a farmer’s movement in Nandigram to resist the CPIM’s effort to start an SEZ on prime agricultural land in 2008.
Interestingly, a Trinamool wave had swept across Haldia during the 2009 parliamentary elections and cost now jailed former CPI-M MP Lakshman Seth his seat. The Trinamool had also won the Haldia assembly seat last year. It was left to Tamalika Panda Seth, chairman of Haldia Municipality, to steer the party's campaign in the absence of her husband who is now behind bars. 'The margin of the CPIM’s win in some of the wards is rather slim. I don’t think [TMC's] popularity has suffered in any way,' said TMC MP from Contai, Sisir Adhikari.
The Cooper's Camp civic body polls saw the Congress winning with 11 seats while the Trinamool could manage only one and the Left none. All 129 seats in the six civic bodies saw triangular contests between the TMC, the Congress and the CPI[M]-led Left Front, with the Congress and the TMC parting ways this time around. The Congress and the TMC remain allies at the Centre though.
In Dhupguri, regarded as a strong base of Left, TMC picked up 11 seats. In the rural belt of Panskura, the TMC bagged 12 seats and the Left got five but neither the Congress nor the BJP could manage a single seat.
In Nalhati, of the 15 seats, the TMC won eight; the Congress and the Left three each and the BJP managed one. Nalhati had generated keen interest because the Congress campaign was led by local MLA, Abhijit Mukherjee, son of Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee.
In Durgapur, the Trinamool was on a strong wicket having bagged 23 seats out of 43. In 2007, the Left Front had clinched three of the six civic bodies, the Congress bagged two and the Congress-Trinamool alliance one.
Haldia, a key industrial town near Nandigram is where the Left Front captured 15 of 26 wards. The remaining 11 seats went to the TMC. 'This loss is a surprise to us. We will introspect on the mandate of the people. However, TMC’s win in Dhupguri comes as a pleasant surprise,' cabinet minister and senior leader of the TMC, Subrata Mukherjee told Millennium Post. Banerjee had supported a farmer’s movement in Nandigram to resist the CPIM’s effort to start an SEZ on prime agricultural land in 2008.
Interestingly, a Trinamool wave had swept across Haldia during the 2009 parliamentary elections and cost now jailed former CPI-M MP Lakshman Seth his seat. The Trinamool had also won the Haldia assembly seat last year. It was left to Tamalika Panda Seth, chairman of Haldia Municipality, to steer the party's campaign in the absence of her husband who is now behind bars. 'The margin of the CPIM’s win in some of the wards is rather slim. I don’t think [TMC's] popularity has suffered in any way,' said TMC MP from Contai, Sisir Adhikari.
The Cooper's Camp civic body polls saw the Congress winning with 11 seats while the Trinamool could manage only one and the Left none. All 129 seats in the six civic bodies saw triangular contests between the TMC, the Congress and the CPI[M]-led Left Front, with the Congress and the TMC parting ways this time around. The Congress and the TMC remain allies at the Centre though.
In Dhupguri, regarded as a strong base of Left, TMC picked up 11 seats. In the rural belt of Panskura, the TMC bagged 12 seats and the Left got five but neither the Congress nor the BJP could manage a single seat.
In Nalhati, of the 15 seats, the TMC won eight; the Congress and the Left three each and the BJP managed one. Nalhati had generated keen interest because the Congress campaign was led by local MLA, Abhijit Mukherjee, son of Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee.
In Durgapur, the Trinamool was on a strong wicket having bagged 23 seats out of 43. In 2007, the Left Front had clinched three of the six civic bodies, the Congress bagged two and the Congress-Trinamool alliance one.
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