KOLKATA: Ruling Trinamool Congress registered a big win in the West Bengal civic polls on Wednesday by breaking into traditional opposition bastions and winning four of the seven municipalities that went to polls on Sunday. Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) retained the other three municipalities.
The ruling party not only won all the three municipalities in the plains but also made its first big foray into the hills of the north by winning six of nine wards in Mirik municipality of Darjeeling district, thus dislodging incumbent GJM, which won only three wards.
TMC won 24 of 27 wards in Congress-stronghold Raiganj, where the party managed to get only two seats while BJP bagged the remaining one seat.
Mamata Banerjee’s party swept the newly-formed Domkal municipality – a stronghold of West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee President Adhir Ranjan Choudhury – by winning 20 of the 21 wards.
While the Congress-Left coalition had initially won in three wards, two winning candidates- Rafikul Islam of ward no. 20 and Ahadul Islam of ward no. 9- later defected to the ruling party, bringing down the Congress-Left tally to one.
In Pujali municipality, which witnessed a tough fight between TMC and BJP, the ruling party managed to win 12 of 16 wards by narrow margins. BJP emerged a big gainer by winning 2 wards and coming second in all the other 14 wards of the municipality. The Congress-Left coalition won the other 2 seats.
On the other hand, GJM won Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong municipalities in the hills. The Bimal Gurung-led party – that fought elections with slogans of Gorkhaland vs Bengal- secured 31 of 32 wards in Darjeeling, 17 of 20 wards in Kurseong and 18 of 23 wards in Kalimpong district.
TMC opened its account by winning one ward in Darjeeling, three in Kurseong and two in Kalimpong. Harka Bahadur Chhetri’s Jan Andolan Party (JAP) gave a tough fight to GJM in all wards of Kalimpong, but could manage to win only two of the 23 wards.
Meanwhile, a GJM-supported independent candidate won in ward no. 15 of Kalimpong municipality.