West Bengal panchayat poll: TMC sweeps Bengal panchayat polls; BJP emerges prime opposition
State Election Commission (SEC) sources said the TMC was also ahead in 2,317 gram panchayat seats for which counting is in progress.
Published: 17th May 2018 06:28 PM | Last Updated: 17th May 2018 07:45 PM | A+A A-
All India Trinamool Congress supporters celebrate during Panchayat poll election results outside the counting station in North 24 Parganas on Thursday. | PTI
KOLKATA: Ruling Trinamool Congress swept the West Bengal panchayat election on Wednesday winning the three-tier rural governance system by a huge margin. However, BJP, which has been registering its growth in the state over the past two years, emerged as the major opposition by coming runners up in the elections.
The ruling party won 17,895 Gram Panchayats and is leading in 820 GPs till 7 pm. BJP won 4,565 GPs and is leading in another 91. Left Front won 1,186 GPs and is leading in another 35 whereas Congress won 765 GPs and is leading in another 36. Independent candidates made big gains by winning 1,465 GPs and leading in another 51.
The ruling party has won 35 Zila Parishads and is leading in another 30. TMC has won 560 Panchayat Samitis and is leading in another 350 seats whereas BJP has won 24 seats and is leading in another 16. Left Front has won 7 seats and is leading in another 6 seats whereas Congress has won just one Panchayat Samiti seat and is leading in another one.
Here too, independent candidates have made their mark by winning 12 seats and leading in another 2.
According to the ongoing counting, independent candidates have secured the third slot after TMC and BJP, above major political parties CPM and Congress.
According to political analysts, the electoral success of the independent candidates point at the growing factional clashes within the ruling party, an issue that has to be tackled by TMC in the wake of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and the 2021 Assembly elections in which further growth of BJP and decimation of Left and Congress is expected.
Some 5 crore West Bengal residents elected candidates to 31,836 Gram Panchayats, 622 Zila Parishads and 6,158 Panchayat Samitis on May 14. The ruling party has already won 16,814 Gram Panchayats, 203 Zila Parishads and 3,059 Panchayat Samitis uncontested.
The election saw massive violence leading to deaths of at least 23 people and injuries to over a 100 people.
Opposition parties alleged the ruling party of massive rigging, claiming that the unleashing of violence exposed the ruling party’s insecurities due to growth of BJP.
