While the TMC asserted its dominance in two-thirds of the state's municipalities, the elections, touted as the semi-finals before the assembly elections, came as a big blow to BJP, which is aspiring to replace the Left as the main opposition party in the state. BJP failed to capture a single municipality, while the Left won in 6 and Congress in 5. The Left staged a comeback in Siliguri under former minister Asok Bhattacharya.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee hailed the elections as a "befitting reply" by the people of the state to the opposition which had launched a "malicious" campaign. But the Left Front countered her, saying the elections were not a true reflection of public opinion. "In most places, malpractices and violence stopped voters from exercising their free democratic rights," said Left Front (LF) chairman Biman Bose.
TMC improved its tally in the KMC, bagging 114 of the 144 wards, up from last election's tally of 95. The LF won just 15 wards, the BJP 7 and the Congress 5. However, the TMC lost on Mamata's hometurf, Bhowanipore, where BJP's Ashim Kumar Bose defeated TMC candidate and outgoing KMC chairperson Sachhidananda Banerjee.
Besides Kolkata, TMC trampled the Left in the surrounding municipalities of North and South 24-Parganas, Hooghly and Nadia, too, establishing a near-absolute control over south Bengal. The Left lost all the municipalities it had won in 2010 in North 24-Parganas, South 24 Parganas, and Hooghly, and managed to retain just one municipality, Taherpur, in Nadia. Congress won most of the municipalities in its strongholds — Murshidabad, Malda, and Uttar Dinajpur — and gave TMC a tough fight in Katwa and Jhalda despite widespread poll-day violence.
http://ift.tt/1o3s8kG Congress,Sachhidananda Banerjee,Kolkata Municipal Corporation
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