Malda: Out of 1,463 GPs, TMC bags 706 seats till 7 pm
Malda: Malda is once again going to see Trinamool dominated Panchayat bodies, evident from the trends coming in. Among the 146 Gram Panchayat (GPs), 15 Panchayat Samitis (PS) and 43 Zilla Parishad (ZP) of Malda, the counting for the GPs had started from 8 am in the morning with deviations in some blocks. Congress seemed to be making a comeback in Malda.
By 7 pm the results of 1,463 GP level had been declared officially. Ruling party Trinamool Congress has bagged 706. BJP is the second highest with 323 wins. Congress had registered wins in 260 seats with CPI(M) winning in 95. The counting for Panchayat Samitis and Zilla Parishad seats were yet to be announced at the time of filing of this report.
From the morning some stray incidents came to the fore and shot up the political mercury of the counting day. Gazole, Kaliachak I and II had a delayed start of the counting process at around 10:30 am. Even counting of Chanchal I started post 1pm. This block also came under the panic of crude bombs when 2 unclaimed bags were spotted behind a poultry firm of Maharajtala in Koligram GP.
In English Bazar, the counting venue, Malda Zilla School, was surrounded by a huge crowd; the police and central forces were seen resorting to baton charge to disperse the mob. Later, a TMC panchayat samiti candidate was also slapped by a police personnel for allegedly carrying ballot papers and the suspected papers were recovered to be sent for scrutiny.
The Opposition party candidates and their agents in different places alleged that their entry to the venues were restricted by the police and central forces. Two, including the Independent candidate, of Chandmoni I GP was allegedly thrashed before the counting venue of Ratua I. The supporters of parties securing victory also broke out in celebration. CPI(M) party activists were seen celebrating with red ‘abir’ while TMC with green and taking out victory rallies with DJ music set up.
In 2018, TMC had bagged 1057, Congress 398, BJP 531 and CPI(M) 121 seats at the GP level among 2281 seats. Among 146 GPs TMC formed 58, BJP 21, Congress 4 in 2018 while 63 were hung. TMC also managed to bag 10 panchayat samiti, BJP 2, Congress 1 then with 2 hung. TMC also won 29 ZP seats, BJP 6 and Congress 2 in 2018.
