West Bengal civic body polls- GJM, Trinamool winning
As counting of votes for West Bengal civic body polls concluded, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) won 69 seats out of 168. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) narrowly trailed behind with 68 votes. While the Congress-Left alliance performed abysmally securing merely 4 votes, the BJP-GJM alliance won over hill territories including Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Purseong. Let us find out how the fight went down!
Who all went for poll?
Seven civic bodies in WB, comprised of four seats in the hills including, Darjeeling, Kurseong, Kalimpong and Mirik and Raiganj Domkal, Pujali located in the plains voted on May 14. The elections were marred by eruption of violence in plain areas. The results were declared after the Calcutta HC denied the Congress Party's petition to cancel the elections citing violence and booth capturing allegations.
Vote tally
While GJM won in the hill areas of Kurseong, Kalimpong and Darjeeling, TMC beat GJM in Mirik winning 6 wards out of 9, becoming the first party from the plains to win in a hill area in three decades. TMC thrashed the chances of BJP and Left-Congress alliance's victory in Domkal, Raiganj and Pujali securing more than 80% of the total votes polled.
Last minute changes
BJP withdrew two of its candidates from Raiganj, after bomb blasts that killed two people. According to the final tally, Congress-Left alliance has won a single seat in Domkal. However, two of the Congress-Left candidates who won, switched over to TMC in the last minute.
What are they saying?
TMC attributed the victory to "people's faith in Mamata Banerjee's development initiatives". Leaders further lauded Mamata's campaigning efforts in the hills. Senior TMC leaders have also termed it a victory against communal and divisive forces. Opposition has alleged vote rigging. BJP state chief Dilip Ghosh noted that, "if the polls were free and fair, BJP would have won Pujali."
What does this mean?
The results evidence that TMC's popularity has remained unscathed, despite being embroiled in corruption scams. This further indicates that TMC might just withstand the Left parties efforts to come back and BJP's efforts to sweep in, during the next few rounds of polls. The victory of the GJM-BJP alliance can further be taken to imply increased NDA involvement in the Gorkhaland issue.
