TMC heading for a landslide victory in West Bengal civic polls

Following its success in the 2021 Assembly polls, subsequent Assembly by-polls and Kolkata Municipal Corporation election, the Mamata Banerjee-led party is looking to strengthen its grip on local self-government across the state by winning a majority of the civic boards.

Even as the counting of votes is still on, the TMC has received 70 per cent of the votes.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) so far has failed to win a single municipality, while a new-formed Humro Party surprisingly won the Darjeeling Municipality. The Left Front has won the Taherpur Municipality in Nadia district, thus opening its account. It has emerged second by receiving 12 per cent votes while the BJP has got 9 per cent votes so far.

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Four municipalities of Beldanga in the Murshidabad district, Jhalda in the Purulia district, Champdani in the Hooghly district and Egra in the East Midnapore district has witnessed a hung situation. On the other hand, the TMC is also retained power in Contai municipality in East Midnapore district despite its former leader Suvendu Adhikari defecting to the BJP. Habra, Halisahar, Kanchrapara and Naihati municipalities in the North 24 Parganas district have been rendered Opposition-free as the TMC won all the seats in these areas.

Meanwhile, the Humro Party, the new entrant in north Bengal hill politics, won the Darjeeling Municipality. Unlike elsewhere in the state, the area surrounding Darjeeling witnessed no violence during the polls on Sunday.

Ajay Edward, the owner of a famous restaurant in Darjeeling and a social worker, floated the Humro Party in November last year which gave a new option for hill voters. Unlike the GJM and GNLF, the new party is not aligned to either the TMC or BJP. According to sources, it won 18 out of 32 seats in Darjeeling civic board.