TMC's clean sweep in the zilla parishads in 11 of 12 south Bengal districts and two out of five north Bengal districts, demonstrated that the two-and-a-half-years of incumbency and controversies, including the Saradha chit fund scam, by and large, failed to sway the rural people's trust on the Mamata Banerjee government.
TMC not only did well in south Bengal, but also breached the barrier in north Bengal where it won Cooch Behar and South Dinajpur.
The ruling party registered a huge victory in the three Maoist strongholds in Bankura, Purulia and West Midnapore districts.
In adjoining East Midnapore district, the TMC registered a major win except at Nandigram, the cradle of Banerjee's anti-land acquisition campaign, where the party had to struggle with former Trinamool supporters, who fought as Independents.
In Nandigram block I and block II, out of 17 gram panchayat seats, official Trinamool candidates won 13 seats, while the independents bagged three seats and Left one.