The Trinamool Congress (TMC) continued with its political dominance in West Bengal by sweeping on Thursday the elections to all the seven civic bodies that went to the polls last week.
Of the 148 wards that went to the polls in seven municipalities, the ruling party won in 140 wards, which is more than 94 per cent of the seats. The BJP bagged six of the remaining eight seats. The Left Front got one and one went to an independent candidate.
Elections were held to the Durgapur Municipal Corporation, Dhupguri Municipality, Buniyadpur Municipality, Coopers’ Camp Notified Area, Nalhati Municipality, Panskura Municipality and the Haldia Municipality on August 13 amidst sporadic reports of violence.
In three of the seven civic bodies, the Opposition could not even win a single ward.
At the Haldia Municipality in Purba Medinipur district, TMC won all the 29 wards. Durgapur Municipal Corporation presented similar picture with the ruling party nominees getting elected from all 43 wards. At Cooper's Camp Notified Authority in State’s Nadia, TMC has won all the 12 seats.
At Nalhati Municipality in Birbhum TMC won 14 out of 16 wards. At Buniyadpur, it won 13 of the 14 wards and at Dhupguri, it bagged 12 out of 16 wards. The results of the Panskura Municipality were no different - the TMC won 17 of the 18 wards.
The BJP won four wards in the Dhupguri Municipality and one each at the Panskura and Buniyadpur civic bodies. The Left Front’s saving grace was one ward at Nalhati.
The TMC described the victory as a support for the development activities taken up by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. While for the BJP, the results came as a support of its claim of being the main opposition force, the Left Front said the polls were far from being free and fair.
