The main opposition party in West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress, led by its mercurial leader Mamata Banerjee, has maintained its winning streak by winning most of the just concluded municipal polls. The polls were conducted in 81 municipalities and corporations including Kolkata and Salt Lake. The TMC managed to win 36 municipalities against the Left Front's 18. The Congress managed to win six municipalities only.
The polls yet again established Mamata Banerjee's TMC as the formidable challenger to the Left, ushering in hope of a change in this Left bastion, 23 of the municipalities showed a mixed result of giving no clear verdict of a winner. Barring two, in most of the other 21 municipalities, the TMC and the Congress will perhaps have to rely on each other to form the board. Unlike the Lok Sabha election, the TMC and the Congress decided to fight the poll on their own.
Five years back, the TMC had won only seven out of these 81 municipalities. But this time the outcome has proved beyond doubt that from Plassey to Purulia in south Bengal, the TMC has been established as the only legitimate anti-Left force and the Congress has been reduced to a very negligible role.
"The verdict is loud and clear," said a beaming Mamata. "The CPI(M) has lost all moral authority to rule the state. The assembly election should be held immediately," she said. The Left Front did not respond directly to Mamata's remarks. But its chairman Biman Bose, in a mature response, said, "We accept the people's verdict."
He pointed out that between now and next May, when assembly elections are likely to be held in West Bengal, the Left Front will work hard to regain the confidence of the people. Khsiti Goswami, a member of the Left Front government and leader of RSP, admitted that the results were on expected lines. For the Congress, the result has come as a reality check. It is now clear that the anti-Left voters have mostly rallied behind the TMC.
Pranab Mukherjee, senior Congress leader and Union finance minister, owned the responsibility for the Congress' poor performance.
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"I take full responsibility for the party's performances," Mukherjee said soon after congratulating Mamata on her victory.
As the results were announced, Mamata Banerjee came to the city from Delhi amidst a rousing welcome by her jubilant supporters. The most spectacular victory that the TMC got was in Kolkata and Salt Lake. In Kolkata, the TMC made a clean sweep and got 95 seats out of total 141 and in Salt Lake it got 16 out of 25.
The outcome of the municipal elections shows clearly that despite a serious effort by the Left to regain the lost ground, they could not halt the erosion that has been taking place in their vote bank.
The result indicates that the 'disease' has spread further in areas where till some years back were considered as Left's strongholds. For instance, in Burdwan district, a traditional Left bastion, the Left Front has lost three municipalities to the Congress and the TMC. In Hooghly district, the TMC made an inroad during the Lok Sabha election.
This time around, the TMC has almost swept aside the CPI(M) there.
Of the 12 municipalities which went to poll in the district, they got 11. In the Lok Sabha election, the TMC had made serious dent into the traditional Left base in North 24 Parganas where they won all five seats. They have won 20 out of 21 municipalities there.
The TMC has won municipalities in districts like Birbhum, Bankura and Purulia. Though the details of the result including voting percentage is still not known, indications are there that the Left vote share has gone down further from 43 per cent it got in the last Lok Sabha election.
A cursory look of the results reveals that had there been an alliance between the TMC and the Congress, then the result would have been further damaging for the Left.
The Congress would have benefitted from the alliance, which was spurned by a section of their leaders.