
Over 34% uncontested seats already won by TMC, shows EC data
The ruling Trinamool Congress today surged ahead in 1,800 gram panchayat seats while the BJP and the CPI(M) were leading in 100 and 30 gram panchayat seats respectively, as per initial trends available at 10 am, SEC officials said.
The panchayat elections were held for 621 zilla parishads, 6,123 panchayat samitis and 31,802 gram panchayats in West Bengal on May 14.
The counting of votes began at 8 am amid tight security, the State Election Commission officials said.
Of the 48,650 seats in 3,358 gram panchayats, 16,814 were uncontested and of the 9,217 seats in 341 panchayat samitis, 3,059 were uncontested. In the 20 zilla parishads, 203 of the 825 seats were uncontested, the sources said.
Here are the LIVE updates on West Bengal Panchayat election results:
01:00 pm:
West Bengal: TMC workers celebrate as their party is leading in #PanchayatElections. Visuals from North 24 Parganas. Counting still under progress. pic.twitter.com/ZJyC8JdlK3
— ANI (@ANI) May 17, 2018
12:27 pm: TMC workers have already started with the celebrations as trends suggest a landslide victory for the party in all spheres of the rural elections.
11:31 am: In Howrah district, TMC is leading in 281 gram panchayat seats, while BJP is in second position with 4 seats
11:27 am:
#WestBengal #PanchayatElection: Out of the total 31,814 that were contested for, TMC has won 110 & is leading on 1,208, BJP has won 4 & is leading on 81, while CPI(M) has won 3 seats & has a lead on 58. Counting in progress.
— ANI (@ANI) May 17, 2018
11:09 am: Trinamool Congress surges ahead in 1,800 gram panchayat seats while the BJP and CPI(M) are leading in 100 and 30 gram panchayat seats respectively, PTI reports, quoting state election commission official.
10:32 am: BJP comes second in most places ahead of CPI(M), according to initial trends.
10:29 am:
#WestBengal: Police has seized 40 mobile phones from a counting centre set up at Jalpaiguri's Polytechnic Institute.#PanchayatElection pic.twitter.com/Hh2x1Df0RR
— ANI (@ANI) May 17, 2018
10:17 am: TMC has already won several seats in the gram panchayat polls. The data released by the West Bengal Election Commission shows that 34.2 percent or 20,076 of the 58,692 seats were uncontested in the panchayat elections.
09:58 am: Trinamool Congress wins six gram panchayat seats and is ahead in most of the seats where counting started.
09:42 am:
West Bengal: Inside visuals from a counting centre in North 24 Parganas, as counting of votes for #PanchayatElection is underway pic.twitter.com/SIGOXze5ET
— ANI (@ANI) May 17, 2018
09:28 am:
Counting of votes for #PanchayatElection has started in 6 districts of North Bengal; Visuals from outside a counting centre in Cooch Behar pic.twitter.com/9UYINB9b4U
— ANI (@ANI) May 17, 2018
08:30 am:
Counting of votes for West Bengal #PanchayatElection delayed at a counting centre in North 24 Parganas pic.twitter.com/rVDIYJbNp0
— ANI (@ANI) May 17, 2018
08:10 am: Counting of votes for West Bengal panchayat election begins. No untoward incident reported so far.
08:00 am: Reacting to the death of poll official Rajkumar Roy in North Dinajpur district, BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra lashed out at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for "crying foul" of democracy being murdered. "What’s happening in Bengal is unbelievable," he said in a tweet.
07:26 am: The Centre on Wednesday termed as "sketchy" details on the panchayat polls violence and asked the West Bengal government to send another report, an official said. The second communication was sent two days after a similar one following large-scale violence during the elections to the local bodies in the state on Monday. Over a dozen lives were lost in the violence.
07:25 am: The Union home ministry has asked the West Bengal government to provide a detailed report on the violence during the polls as the report the state government had sent was "sketchy", the official said. The state government has been told to provide details on the circumstances leading to the violence and the steps taken to restore peace and punish those involved.