West Bengal: TMC decimates opposition, gains control of Kolkata Municipal Corporation for 3rd time in row – Times of India

KOLKATA: A gap of almost 200 days as green abir smeared jubilant faces were again on the streets of Kolkata on Tuesday and thus there was a repeat telecast of May 2 after the assembly poll results, as Kolkata on Tuesday observed victory celebrations with Trinamool winning 134 wards out of 144 of KMC. The mayor will be elected on Thursday.
Thus Trinamool will control not only the Kolkata Municipal Corporation but also all the 16 boroughs in the city winning over 72% votes and winning in 94% seats. Seven Trinamool councillors got over 90% votes and two of them had bagged over 93% votes — Ashutosh Das of ward 35 and Raghunath Patra of ward 142. While 42 of the Trinamool candidates bagged over 70% votes and 26 of them had bagged over 80% votes. Faiz Ahmed Khan of Trinamool won by the highest margin of 62,000 votes in ward 66. However,, in ward 21 Trinamool candidate won by a narrow margin of 44 votes. Trinamool won entirely in boroughs I, II, III, VI, VII, VIII, IX, XII, XIII, XIV and XVI.
The outgoing members of the board of administrators had a comfortable win along with the six MLAs including former mayor and transport minister Firhad Hakim and also South Kolkata MP Mala Roy. Thus KMC is under the control of Trinamool since 2010 and in 2015 it had won in 113 wards.
BJP won three seats by bagging 0.3% votes. Sajal Ghosh is a debutant from ward 50, while Meena Devi Purohit a former deputy mayor of KMC won for the sixth time in a row from ward 22 and Vijay Ojha won thrice from ward 23. But BJP’s 116 candidates lost their deposits.
Congress bagged around 4% votes and got two wards, as veteran Santosh Pathak won it again from ward 45 and Wasim Ansari won from ward 137. For Congress, 112 candidates lost their deposits.
Left Front partner CPM won from 92 and 103 and LF got a share of 11.7%. CPM alone got 9.7% vote. But 97 LF candidates lost their deposits.
The victory of the three women independents came as a big surprise, though they are likely to join the ruling Trinamool. Ayesha Kaniz in ward 43, Rubina Naaz won from 135 wards and Purbasa Naskar won ward 141. Five independents came second in the race, while 406 of them lost their deposit. However, it might be recalled that in 1995, independent Jhunnu Ansari had bailed out Left Front to get a majority and retain KMC.
Soon after the landslide victory in the KMC, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said: It is the victory of democracy.” The CM tweeted: Heartiest congratulations to all candidates for your victory in the KMC elections. Remember to serve people with utmost diligence and gratitude!”
The CM congratulated the citizens said “The citizens of Kolkata supported us in such an overwhelming way, I convey my regards and salute them all. This poll was held in a festive mood and it is a victory of democracy. It is what the people had expected. We are thankful to the people and we will serve the people in a humble a submissive manner. Kolkata and Bengal are our pride and Kolkata and Bengal will lead the country and show the path to glory.” The CM said this massive mandate was in favour of development as Trinamool has been continuously doing it since 2011.
“It is a great victory for us, as Opposition all fought against us. All are defeated by the people’s mandate and so this will help us to work for the development of the people. This landslide victory happened as we are the sons and daughters of the soil and work at the grass-root level for development. We have changed Kolkata and Kolkata is now the safest city and we did beautification of Kolkata. My intention is to see that urban, semi urban and villages are developed.”
“BJP had been wiped away as well as CPM, and Congress sandwiched between CPM and BJP.”