Contesting alone in a major poll after parting ways with the Congress in September last year, Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress swept the panchayat elections in West Bengal, establishing its undisputed supremacy in the rural areas of the state.
The results, dealing a huge blow to the Left and the Congress, suggested that two and a half years of incumbency and controversies, including the Saradha chit fund scam, by and large failed to shake the rural people's faith in the TMC government.
Of the 17 districts, the Trinamool won zilla parishads in 13 districts, the Left in one (Jalpaiguri) and the Congress in one (Murshidabad). The BJP drew a blank.
Out of the 824 zilla parishad seats, the Trinamool Congress bagged 530, the Left Front 209, Congress 78 and others 5. Two results were pending.
The party registered major victories in traditionally red bastions in the south and smashed through the Congress strongholds in the north where the TMC was relatively weak.
South Bengal districts have 34 Lok Sabha seats and the north eight, including Darjeeling where elections were not held.
TMC won the zilla parishads in Howrah, Hooghly, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Burdwan, Birbhum, Nadia, Coochbehar and South Dinajpur districts.
The poll results suggested that Trinamool Congress widened its reach in Congress dominated North Bengal and the division of votes appeared to have helped the Left immensely in North Bengal and cost the Congress heavily.
In the Malda zilla parishad where Congress was in control, the party captured 16 out of 38 seats, the Left 16 and the Trinamool Congress six leaving a hung outcome.
The Congress would need TMC's support to form the board.
Similarly, the Congress fared badly in another party controlled zilla parishad in North Dinajpur district, the home-ground of the union minister and Mamata Banerjee's bete noire Deepa Dasmunshi.
