Post LS poll results: BJP Panchayat members flock to Trinamool

Cooch Behar: Soon after the Lok Sabha election results were announced, Panchayat members began leaving the BJP to join the TMC.

Sudhir Barman, a BJP Panchayat member of Tufanganj Andaran Phulbari-I village Panchayat and Sumitra Barman, the only BJP Panchayat member of Danwaguri village panchayat of Natabari Assembly, joined the TMC on Wednesday. District TMC president Abhijit De Bhowmik welcomed them to the party with the Trinamool flag at the Cooch Behar district TMC office. Many local BJP workers and supporters also joined Trinamool on this day. Abhijit De Bhowmik said: “BJP Panchayat members in Cooch Behar are lining up to join Trinamool to participate in the development initiatives of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Earlier, 130 Panchayat members left the BJP and joined TMC. The rest are in touch and will join soon. The BJP will be empty before the 2026 Assembly elections.”

However, BJP’s Cooch Behar district president Sukumar Roy claimed that TMC is coercing members to join by threatening them with administrative support.

There are a total of 128 Gram Panchayats in Cooch Behar district. TMC were in control of 104 while the BJP were in control of 24 Gram Panchayats after the rural elections. However, after the Lok Sabha election results were declared, the BJP began to face a crisis with Panchayat members crossing over to TMC.