The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Tuesday registered a landslide victory in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) elections, increasing its tally by winning 134 of 144 wards.
The BJP, which had emerged as the main Opposition party in the Assembly polls earlier this year, won three wards while the Left Front and the Congress bagged two each. However, the Left’s vote share eclipsed the BJP’s, and the Independents ended on an equal footing with the Opposition parties by winning three seats. All three victorious Independents expressed a desire to join the ruling party.
The Left came second in 65 wards while the saffron party finished runners-up in 48. The Congress took second place in 16 wards, and Independents in five.
Congratulating TMC workers, Chief Minister and party chairperson Mamata Banerjee said it would boost the party’s national ambitions since other national parties had lost. “The BJP has been bowled out while the CPI(M) has no presence. The Congress has been sandwiched between the BJP and the KMC CPI(M),” she told reporters.
In 2015, when the KMC elections were last held (they were put off last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic), the TMC had won 124 wards, the Left 13, the BJP five, and the Congress two.
In terms of vote share, the ruling party secured nearly three-fourths of the votes cast (72.16 per cent), increasing its vote share from the last civic polls by 22 per cent. Compared to the March-April Assembly elections, it also saw its vote share rise 11 per cent in KMC wards.
The Left finished ahead of the BJP by securing 11.87 per cent votes as against the saffron party’s 9.19 per cent. The BJP’s comparative vote share was 6 per cent below 2015, and 20 per cent less than the Assembly polls. The Left received 13 per cent fewer votes compared to the 2015 civic polls but 7 per cent more than in the Assembly elections. The Congress got 4.13 per cent of the votes while the Independents’ share was 2.43 per cent.
“It is a victory of democracy and the people. The election was held like a festival. People exercised their franchise peacefully,” Mamata Banerjee said.
The TMC supremo announced that victorious TMC councillors would select the next mayor and deputy mayor at a meeting on December 23.
TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee tweeted, “People of Kolkata have once again proven that politics of hate and violence have no place in Bengal! I thank everyone for blessing us with such a huge mandate. We are truly humbled and shall always remain committed to our goals towards your betterment! Thank you, Kolkata.”
The BJP called the results a farce, with its spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya sarcastically quipping, “We are surprised. The TMC should have won all the seats given the kind of violence and booth-rigging that took place.”
Both the BJP and the CPI(M) have moved the Calcutta High Court, seeking fresh elections. The case will be heard on December 23. The Opposition parties, which had sought central forces to monitor polling, have alleged that their polling agents were driven out of booths and candidates were beaten up during voting on Sunday. Crude bombs went off at three places, leaving three injured. The turnout was about 64 per cent while more than 200 people were arrested.
“Had there been no violence during the election, the Congress would have won 10 to 12 wards. Despite such violence and rigging, Congress did well and came second in 15 to 16 wards. The TMC government has turned a blind eye to this kind of violence,” claimed state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.
Left Front chairperson Biman Bose said, “The TMC was expected to sweep the polls after the way they looted votes and stopped our polling agents from discharging their duties. They stifled the democratic voice of people by using the police and the election machinery. In a democracy, this type of result is dangerous.”
TMC secretary-general Partha Chatterjee accused the Opposition of coming up with excuses for their poor show. “In every election, the TMC is performing better and increasing its vote share. The Opposition is losing ground and people’s support in each election. It is high time they reach out to the people instead of criticising the ruling party and coming up with excuses,” he added.
Meanwhile, high-profile TMC leaders such as former Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim, ex-deputy mayor Atin Ghosh, Debasish Kumar, Mala Roy, Tarak Singh, Paresh Pal, Sushanta Ghosh, and Mamata Banerjee’s sister-in-law Kajari Banerjee were among the winners. TMC’s Faiz Ahmed Khan registered the highest victory margin by winning ward 66 by 62,045 votes. TMC candidate Ananya Bandyopadhyay also won big by bagging ward 109 by a margin of more than 37,668 votes.
Among the Opposition candidates who emerged victorious were the BJP’s Meena Devi Purohit who won from ward 22. This was her sixth straight victory in the KMC polls. BJP candidate Vijay Ojha, who won from ward 23, also secured his third straight victory in the civic polls. The BJP’s candidate in ward 50, Sajal Ghosh, also won.
Congress candidates Santosh Pathak and Wasim Ansari won from wards 45 and 137 while CPI candidate Madhuchanda Dev and the CPI(M)’s Nandita Roy won from wards 92 and 103.
Victorious Independent candidates Ayesha Kaniz (ward 43), Rubina Naaz (ward 135), and Purbasha Naskar (ward 141) said they want to join the TMC.
Asked about it and his party’s victory, Firhad Hakim, who won from ward 82, told reporters, “We are delighted to have received people’s support and blessing. We sincerely thank them. The winning Independent candidates want to join our party. Once they send their applications, the party will definitely take a call on this.”
Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/kolkata/landslide-win-tmc-kolkata-civic-polls-left-vote-share-bjp-7683577/
