Trinamool Sweeps Bengal Panchayat ‘Elections’; BJP Emerges As Main Challenger, Left Wiped Out 

Counting of votes for panchayat elections held in West Bengal is underway today (17 May) with the results till now indicating a Trinamool Congress (TMC) sweep in the local bodies.

Of the 29,634 gram sabha seats for which results have been declared, the TMC has bagged 26,601 or 89 per cent of the seats with the BJP coming in second at 6.85 per cent, as reported by The Indian Express.

The Left and the Congress have been wiped out with just 1.38 and 1.06 per cent of the seats respectively. Elections were held for 31,836 seats and counting is still in progress on the remaining seats.

Of the 621 zila parishad seats, the TMC has won 351, while the BJP was leading on nine. The Left and Congress were ahead on two and four seats respectively.

The tally for the 6,123 gram samiti seats stood at 2,543 for TMC, 162 for the BJP, 79 for the Left and 67 for the Congress, with counting still in progress.

The sanctity of the ‘elections’ has however been under considerable doubt with numerous instances of violence marring the election process. Earlier, the TMC was declared the winner on 34 per cent of the panchayat posts as no other party had fielded candidates for the posts. The opposition BJP, Left and Congress have accused the TMC of unleashing widespread violence to keep their candidates from contesting.

Even the election day was marred with several instances of violence reported across the state with even senior members and ministers of the TMC indulging in violence.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee lauded her party’s victory. "TMC has emerged victorious in 90 per cent seats despite the opposition parties coming together. This shows how strong we are at the grass-root level," Banerjee was quoted as saying by ANI.