Cooch Behar: In the Cooch Behar district, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) emerged victorious in the Gram Panchayat, Panchayat Samiti, and Zila Parishad elections.
Out of a total of 128 Gram Panchayats in Cooch Behar district, the Trinamool Congress secured 101, while the BJP won in 22.
The Trinamool Congress also achieved a majority in all 12 Panchayat Samitis (PS) of the district. Furthermore, the Trinamool Congress gained control of the Cooch
Behar Zilla Parishad. Out of the 34 seats in the Zilla Parishad, the Trinamool Congress secured 32, while the BJP won 2 seats.
While TMC emerged victorious in Cooch Behar district, it’s worth noting that the BJP’s control in the number of Gram Panchayats has increased compared to the 2018 Panchayat polls.
The BJP has also made inroads into the Zilla Parishad. Political circles believe that the BJP has made significant progress in this regard.
Looking at the statistics, in the previous 2018 Panchayat polls, BJP did not make a significant impact in the Cooch Behar district. However, since the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, BJP has gained ground.
In the last Parliamentary elections, BJP won the Cooch Behar Lok Sabha seat. 6 out of 9 Assembly seats were won by BJP with 3 going to TMC.
BJP’s success in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections had sparked anticipation that the party would perform well in the 2023 Panchayat polls.
The TMC state leadership has repeatedly visited Cooch Behar and Abhishek Banerjee’s ‘Naba Jowar’ programme was launched from here too.
Welfare schemes implemented by the TMC government, including Lakshmi Bhandar and Swasthya
Saathi, made an impact on rural communities.
TMC’s performance in the Panchayat elections will provide significant momentum leading up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, feel political pundits.
However, Sukumar Roy, President of BJP in Cooch Behar district, stated: “The Panchayat elections were designed to suppress people’s voices, as they were unable to vote freely.” He expressed his determination to re-establish the rights of the people in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, ensuring victory for the BJP.
He added that in 2018, BJP won only 1 GP but got 22 in 2023. According to him, people voted for BJP whenever they had the opportunity.
On the other hand, Abhijit De Bhowmick, president of the TMC in Cooch Behar district, accused the BJP of misleading people in the 2019 Lok Sabha and 2021 Assembly polls. He expressed gratitude for the district’s support to the TMC in the rural elections further asserting the objective of removing the BJP in 2024.