The Trinamool Congress- Congress combine captured the Siliguri Municipal Corporation board today, ending 27 years of Left rule.
The combine bagged 29 seats and an Independent backed by the alliance won one. Mayor of the outgoing board, Munsi Nurul Islam, managed to win, though his deputy Dilip Ray was not lucky. The election to the board was regarded as a prestige fight between the Left Front and the Trinamool-Congress alliance which is trying to make inroads into north Bengal. The Trinamool and the Congress, which joined hands during the last panchayat elections had done well in the Lok Sabha elections too. CPI-M MLA and state Municipal Affairs Minister Asoke Bhattacharya, who led the election campaign of the Left party, refused to comment.
Darjeeling district (plains) Congress president Shankar Malakar described the win as people's "protest against misrule of the ruling combine".