Trinamool Congress emerges victorious in Bengal rural elections

Contesting alone in a major poll after parting ways with the Congress in September last year, Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress swept the panchayat elections in West Bengal, establishing its undisputed supremacy in the rural areas of the state.

The results, dealing a huge blow to the Left and the Congress, suggested that two and a half years of incumbency and controversies, including the Saradha chit fund scam, by and large failed to shake the rural people's faith in the TMC government.

Of the 17 districts, the Trinamool won zilla parishads in 13 districts, the Left in one (Jalpaiguri) and the Congress in one (Murshidabad). The BJP drew a blank.

Out of the 824 zilla parishad seats, the Trinamool Congress bagged 530, the Left Front 209, Congress 78 and others 5. Two results were pending.

The party registered major victories in traditionally red bastions in the south and smashed through the Congress strongholds in the north where the TMC was relatively weak.

South Bengal districts have 34 Lok Sabha seats and the north eight, including Darjeeling where elections were not held.

TMC won the zilla parishads in Howrah, Hooghly, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Burdwan, Birbhum, Nadia, Coochbehar and South Dinajpur districts.

The poll results suggested that Trinamool Congress widened its reach in Congress dominated North Bengal and the division of votes appeared to have helped the Left immensely in North Bengal and cost the Congress heavily.

In the Malda zilla parishad where Congress was in control, the party captured 16 out of 38 seats, the Left 16 and the Trinamool Congress six leaving a hung outcome.

The Congress would need TMC's support to form the board.

Similarly, the Congress fared badly in another party controlled zilla parishad in North Dinajpur district, the home-ground of the union minister and Mamata Banerjee's bete noire Deepa Dasmunshi.

In the North Dinajpur zilla parishad, out of 26 seats, the Left Front secured 13 seats, Congress eight and TMC five.

In the same district's panchayat samiti, the Congress could bag only one of the nine bodies.

Congress put up a very poor show, winning only Murshidabad district under the leadership of Congress strongman and Union minister of MoS for Railways Adhir Choudhury.

In the gram panchayat election, the Congress drew a blank in Hooghly, Bankura and South Dinajpur districts.

Out of 329 panchayat samitis, Trinamool Congress bagged 192, the Left 64 and the Congress 20. Independents and others got 22. Some results were still pending.

In the lowest tier, the gram panchayat, the Trinamool won 1,745 out of 3,215 or a whopping 54 per cent.

At Singur, the Trinamool Congress bagged 12 out of 16 gram panchayat seats, with the Left bagging just one and putting up a close fight in three others.

At Kamduni in North 24 paraganas district, which hit the headlines in recent times over the brutal rape and murder of a college girl student, the Trinamool Congress polled more votes than the Opposition in the gram panchayat.

Out of 362 votes polled of a total of 952, the TMC received 190.

The ruling party registered a huge victory in the three former Maoist strongholds in Bankura, Purulia and West Midnapur districts and adjoining East Midnapur district except minor blows in Nandigram where the party had to struggle with former TMC supporters, who fought as independents.

TMC painted almost all of rural Bengal green, including Left strongholds like Burdwan, Bankura, Purulia, West Midnapur and Birbhum in South Bengal and also in two North Bengal districts, Coochebehar and South Dinajpur.

The 2008 rural polls had provided the first signs of a Trinamool Congress surge in the state though the Left had bagged 13 zilla parishads while Trinamool and Congress secured two each.