Of the 621 Zilla Parishad seats, the TMC has secures 589 seats or 94 per cent of the seats
The ruling TMC in West Bengal has registered a staggering win at all the three-tiers of the Panchayat election. Of the 621 Zilla Parishad seats in Bengal, the TMC has managed to secure 589 or at 94 per cent seats. The distant second was BJP which won 23 seats, followed by the Congress which won six seats, and the Left Front had to be content with one. Two seats went to independent candidates.
TMC has won all the Zilla Parishad seats in 10 districts — Jalpaiguri, South Dinajpore, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Hooghly, East Midnapore, West Midnapore, Bankura, East Burdwan and West Burdwan.
In case of Panchayat Samity, the total number of contested seats was 6,125 of which the TMC has won 80 per cent seats, and of the 31,814 Gram Panchayat seats, TMC secured 67 per cent of the seats.
TMC leaders are also claiming that a considerable number of independent candidates would join the TMC. Till the latest reports came in, independent candidates have won 1,830 seats among the total contested. Interestingly, the figure is more than that of the Left and Congress which won in 1,708 and 1,062 seats respectively.
Independent candidates have also won in 114 Panchayat Samity seats and two Zila Parishad seats.
TMC party general secretary Partha Chatterjee said, "We are keeping track of the independent candidates and making sure that they don't join the CPI(M) or BJP." TMC district president of North 24 Parganas and state minister Jyotipriyo Mullick said, "These independent candidates were our workers only. They had fought as independents following some misunderstandings within the party. We will take care of that and induct them back into the party."
At Singur in Hooghly district, the winning of independent candidates was attributed to the infighting within the party. "Winning candidates were denied party tickets by Singur MLA Rabindranath Bhattacharya. He allotted tickets to people of his choice to make his lobby stronger. This had offset many and there were as many as 51 independent candidates. Among them, 26 won in Gram Panchayats and one in Panchayat Samity. They are all likely to join TMC," said TMC MLA from the adjoining Haripal constituence, Becharam Manna. He said that Arup Das who won the Panchayat Samity seat as independent who had been the winning candidate of Singur II Panchayat Samity since 1988.
Sources at the State Election Commission (SEC) said that there would be repolls at two booths of Phoolbari area of Rajgunj in Jalpaiguri district.
It was found out that the decision of repoll had been taken following the complaint of BJP candidate Dolly Sutradhar that she had been winning when TMC workers, during counting had beaten her agent up and looted the ballot box. Repoll would be conducted at booths 189/1 and 189/2 of Phoolbari on May 20 and counting will take place on May 21.
In another development, the state government has declared compensation for those killed during the Panchayat elections. Sources at Nabanna, the state secretariat said that Rs 2 lakh would be paid to the family members of each of the 14 persons killed in poll-violence and Rs 5 lakh will be paid to the next to kin of the presiding officer whose body was found in Raigunj while he was on election duty. His wife will be given a job.
VOTE SHARE
- Of the 621 Zilla Parishad seats, the TMC has secures 589 seats or 94 per cent of the seats.
- Of the 6,125 Panchayat Samity seats, the TMC won 80 per cent seats.
- Of the 31,814 Gram Panchayat seats, the TMC has secured 67 per cent seats.
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