Mamata sweeps Bengal civic polls; BJP, Left routed

As the green wave swept across West Bengal, the Trinamool scored 70 out of 92, the Left six and the Congress five. As many as 11 civic bodies are hung and the TMC hopes to bag most of them as well. But the biggest prize of all — the Kolkata Municipal Corporation went to the TMC with a thumping 114 seats out of 144. 

For the state BJP unit, it was  a rude wake-up call. It failed to win a single municipality in the state. Only four per cent of voters in the state backed its candidates, down from 17 per cent during the Lok Sabha polls, dealing a huge blow to its ambitions of posing a political challenge to the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress in the 2016 Assembly polls.

BJP’s support base in Kolkata dwindled to 15 per cent from a staggering 24 per cent in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. The TMC, which in the last KMC polls had won 95 seats, increased its tally to 114 while the main opposition CPI(M)-led Left Front was reduced to just 15 from 33.

Banerjee thanked the people for the resounding verdict, while the opposition is busy crying rigging and violence. For the BJP, it proved to be a disaster considering its efforts to improve upon the Lok Sabha poll performance, keeping the 2016 Assembly poll ambitions in mind and the Left’s attempt to reclaim lost ground in West Bengal politics.

Terming the victory as “a befitting reply to the slanderous campaign carried out by the Opposition and a section of the media,” Banerjee re-anointed Sovan Chatterjee as Kolkata’s Mayor.

She further added: “Leave aside Trinamool, there were so many personal attacks directed towards me. I don’t know what would have been the consequences if such things were done in any other state. Yet again it has been proved that in democracy, it’s the people who have the final say.”

Congress, which is fast becoming insignificant in state politics, managed to bag five seats, down from eight in 2010 in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.

Although the TMC scored a big win, it suffered a minor hiccup as Chairman of the outgoing KMC board Sachidananda Banerjee, deputy mayor Farzana Alam of the TMC besides prominent party councillor Paresh Pal were defeated. “This debunks Opposition party’s claims that the elections were rigged,” a senior TMC leader told Millennium Post. For the Left parties there was little to cheer about. Contrary to the KMC, the results in the Siliguri Municipal Corporation showed the CPM-led Left Front spearheaded by former heavyweight leader Asok Bhattacharya managed to regain some lost ground capturing 23 of the 47 seats.