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Continuing its winning streak, the Trinamool Congress on Tuesday won 70 of the 91 civic bodies across Bengal even as it retained the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC). The results were along expected lines, with Trinamool emerging the clear winner.
Elections for KMC — widely seen as the semi-final before the Assembly elections next year — were held on April 18 and to the other 91 bodies on April 25.
The Left Front was a distant second, winning six civic bodies. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which had increased its vote share in the Lok Sabha elections significantly, could not win any of the civic bodies, but the Congress managed to retain its hold over five. These elections have thrown up 11 hung civic bodies —Trinamool was ahead in at least four and Congress in three.
In 2010, Trinamool had won 33 municipalities of 81, while the Left had bagged 18. Congress had won seven.
In the 144-ward KMC, Trinamool has won 114, up from 95 last time. The Left Front has won 15. BJP put up a poor show even among the urban electorate, winning only seven wards. Though the party has improved over its 2010 performance (three wards), its popularity has dipped since the Lok Sabha elections. An extrapolation of Lok Sabha results would have resulted in 26 wards for BJP in KMC, 11 for the Left, 99 for Trinamool and eight for Congress.
Addressing a press conference, Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee said, “Rural Bengal is with us. Urban Bengal is with us. People of Bengal are with us. Trinamool is with the people. We dedicate our victory to people of Bengal.”
She, however, requested party workers to stay away from victory rallies in the wake of the earthquake in Nepal.
Banerjee was also confident of forming boards in the hung municipalities. The only setback for the TMC was Siliguri Municpal Corporation where the Left had surged ahead with 23 seats of 47 while the TMC was at 17.
