With 47% vote share, TMC wins Siliguri civic polls for 1st time
Siliguri: It was a Valentine's Day gift for Trinamool Congress (TMC) as the party scored a landslide victory in the Siliguri Municipal Corporation elections.
This is the first time that TMC is going to form the board in the civic body in Siliguri. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, on a tour of North Bengal, on Monday assured of all round development in Siliguri.
Out of 47 seats, 37 fell into the TMC's kitty. Left Front won 4 seats, BJP 5 while a lone seat went to the Indian National Congress.
Former Mayor and State Municipal Affairs Minister Ashok Bhattacharya of the CPI(M) faced defeat from Ward 6 while sitting BJP MLA of Siliguri suffered similar fate from ward 24.
TMC's vote share was 47.24 per cent, BJP 23.24 per cent, Left Front 17.39 per cent and Congress 5.32 per cent.
As the counting progressed and results were declared, TMC supporters broke out into celebration mode smearing green colour (Abir) chanting "Khela Hobey" slogans. Half way through the counting it was clearly evident that there was no stopping the green wave.
The name of Gautam Deb was announced as the Mayor by TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee with the results being declared. She also thanked the people of Siliguri for harbouring faith on the TMC.
"People have shown their love for Didi and our TMC team. We will definitely live up to their expectations," stated a jubilant Deb.
Deb stated he was forever grateful to Mamata Banerjee for entrusting him with important tasks. "As her foot soldier, I will never let her down. He further added that he would have loved to see a BJP nil SMC.
The Left faced defeat in the polls. Dubbing it a disaster, former Mayor and Minister Asok Bhattacharya stated: "Our strategy went wrong."
The BJP has declared that they will henceforth fulfil the duties of a responsible opposition party.
The "Siliguri Model" failed to conjure up the magic figures for the Left Front. Incidentally, the corporation election had spawned the political term "Siliguri Model." The term coined following the 2009 and 2015 civic polls in Siliguri whereby a tacit understanding between the Left and Congress resulted in the halting of TMC's advance despite the TMC and Congress having a pre-poll alliance.
In the 2015 elections, CPI(M) and allies had bagged 23 seats; TMC 17 seats; INC 4 seats; BJP 2 seats and Independent 1 seat. CPI(M) had formed the board with Ashok Bhattacharya as Mayor in 2015.
