TMC scores landslide victory in civic polls

Kolkata:  In a major boost to the party ahead of next year's Assembly polls, the Trinamool Congress today scored a landslide victory in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation bagging 114 of the 144 wards, and also won 69 of the 91 civic bodies in districts across West Bengal.  

The victory in the municipal polls, which was billed as the semifinal before the Assembly polls, will act as a shot in the arm for the TMC, which recently faced serious allegations of corruption, including alleged involvement of some of its leaders in the Saradha Chit Fund scam.  

Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee termed the victory as "a befitting reply to the slanderous campaign carried out by the Opposition and a section of the media." The TMC, which in the last KMC polls had won 95 seats, increased its tally to 114 while the main opposition CPI(M)-led Left Front was reduced to just 15 from 33.  

The BJP, which was hoping to replace the Left as the main opposition in the KMC, miserably failed, managing to increase its tally from three to just seven seats.  Independents bagged three seats in the KMC.  

Congress, which was fast becoming insignificant in state politics, managed to win five seats, down from eight in 2010.  

Although the TMC scored a big win, it got some blows too as several heavyweights bit the dust.

Chairman of the outgoing KMC board Sachidananda Banerjee, deputy mayor Farzana Alam of TMC besides prominent party councillor Paresh Pal were defeated.

On the part of CPI(M), the leader of opposition in the outgoing KMC board Rupa Bagchi was defeated by her nearest TMC rival.

Contrary to KMC, the results in the Siliguri Municipal Corporation showed the CPI(M)-led Left Front has managed to regain some of its lost ground capturing 23 of the 47 seats.  

TMC bagged 17 seats in Siliguri Municipal Corporation, which was regarded as a prestige fight for TMC leader and state minister Gautam Deb and CPI(M) leader and former minister Ashok Bhattacharya.

The Congress won five seats while the BJP got two seats and an independent won one seat in Siliguri.