[ad_1]
KOLKATA: Bengal’s violence-marred rural vote gave Trinamool Congress a massive, morale-boosting mandate on Wednesday, going into next year’s big Lok Sabha battle — all 20 zilla parishads, 317 of the 341 panchayat samitis, and 2,644 of the 3,317 gram panchayats at stake.
Second-placed BJP’s tally of six panchayat samitis and 220 gram panchayats accentuated TMC’s dominance in the three-tier elections, which appeared a foregone conclusion as results and trends emerged on the first day of counting.
The once-mighty Left finished with a piffling two panchayat samitis and 38 gram panchayats, while Congress drew a blank in the second tier of the rural structure and won four in the third.
“It’s TMC all the way in rural Bengal. I want to thank the people for their love, affection and support towards TMC. This election has proved that only TMC resides in the heart of the people of the state,” CM Mamata Banerjee wrote on Facebook.
BJP put up a semblance of a fight in Coochbehar and Alipurduar, besides pockets of some districts like East Midnapore’s Nandigram, leader of the opposition Suvendu Adhikari’s home turf. But the saffron party’s vote share shrank even in these places, stretching from Dinhata in north Bengal to the Matua-dominated areas of Thakurnagar in south Bengal that were considered its strongholds until two years ago.
Trinamool made inroads into the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe pocket boroughs of BJP that had given the party eight of its 18 Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 elections. These include Alipurduar, where SCs and STs constitute around 51% of the population, Coochbehar (51%), North Dinajpur (32%), South Dinajpur (45%), Jhargram (49%), Bankura (36%) and Purulia (37%).
Combined with the 2022 urban local body election results, where opposition parties finished with victories in less than 10 of the 110-odd municipalities that went to polls, Trinamool now controls about nine out of 10 local civic bodies across the state’s cities, towns and villages.
Congress and the Left Front together got about 1,700 gram panchayat seats in Murshidabad, compared to TMC’s 2,800-odd. Indian Secular Front put up a semblance of aa fight in some areas such as Bhangar in South 24-Parganas.
Unlike the 2018 rural polls, when CM Mamata Banerjee’s party had won one in every three seats uncontested (34.8%), it got a walkover in only 9.8% of the seats this time around. Trinamool saw in this an opportunity to test the ground. “We missed out on the chance to assess ourselves and the opposition’s strengths and weaknesses in 2018, and that cost us some seats in the general elections next year,” a party veteran said.
Trinamool had a 63% vote share and BJP 13%, a percentage point behind CPM’s, in last year’s urban local body polls. If it finishes with a similar vote share in the rural belt, BJP will have to work overtime to retain its 2019 tally of 18 Lok Sabha seats, sources said.
CM Mamata said that though Trinamool’s victory was something to celebrate, violence in the run-up to the vote and on polling day “saddened” her.
She said 19 people, mostly from TMC, died in poll-related violence since the election date was announced on June 8. Police sources pegged the number of casualties at 37. “I am giving police a free hand to act against those behind the violence,” news agency PTI quoted her as saying.
Watch WB Panchayat Polls: TMC workers hold celebration after win in Purulia
Second-placed BJP’s tally of six panchayat samitis and 220 gram panchayats accentuated TMC’s dominance in the three-tier elections, which appeared a foregone conclusion as results and trends emerged on the first day of counting.
The once-mighty Left finished with a piffling two panchayat samitis and 38 gram panchayats, while Congress drew a blank in the second tier of the rural structure and won four in the third.
“It’s TMC all the way in rural Bengal. I want to thank the people for their love, affection and support towards TMC. This election has proved that only TMC resides in the heart of the people of the state,” CM Mamata Banerjee wrote on Facebook.
BJP put up a semblance of a fight in Coochbehar and Alipurduar, besides pockets of some districts like East Midnapore’s Nandigram, leader of the opposition Suvendu Adhikari’s home turf. But the saffron party’s vote share shrank even in these places, stretching from Dinhata in north Bengal to the Matua-dominated areas of Thakurnagar in south Bengal that were considered its strongholds until two years ago.
Trinamool made inroads into the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe pocket boroughs of BJP that had given the party eight of its 18 Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 elections. These include Alipurduar, where SCs and STs constitute around 51% of the population, Coochbehar (51%), North Dinajpur (32%), South Dinajpur (45%), Jhargram (49%), Bankura (36%) and Purulia (37%).
Combined with the 2022 urban local body election results, where opposition parties finished with victories in less than 10 of the 110-odd municipalities that went to polls, Trinamool now controls about nine out of 10 local civic bodies across the state’s cities, towns and villages.
Congress and the Left Front together got about 1,700 gram panchayat seats in Murshidabad, compared to TMC’s 2,800-odd. Indian Secular Front put up a semblance of aa fight in some areas such as Bhangar in South 24-Parganas.
Unlike the 2018 rural polls, when CM Mamata Banerjee’s party had won one in every three seats uncontested (34.8%), it got a walkover in only 9.8% of the seats this time around. Trinamool saw in this an opportunity to test the ground. “We missed out on the chance to assess ourselves and the opposition’s strengths and weaknesses in 2018, and that cost us some seats in the general elections next year,” a party veteran said.
Trinamool had a 63% vote share and BJP 13%, a percentage point behind CPM’s, in last year’s urban local body polls. If it finishes with a similar vote share in the rural belt, BJP will have to work overtime to retain its 2019 tally of 18 Lok Sabha seats, sources said.
CM Mamata said that though Trinamool’s victory was something to celebrate, violence in the run-up to the vote and on polling day “saddened” her.
She said 19 people, mostly from TMC, died in poll-related violence since the election date was announced on June 8. Police sources pegged the number of casualties at 37. “I am giving police a free hand to act against those behind the violence,” news agency PTI quoted her as saying.
Watch WB Panchayat Polls: TMC workers hold celebration after win in Purulia
#boost #ahead #TMC #wins #big #Bengal #rural #polls #India #News
