KOLKATA: In what is being billed as the “semifinal” before the Assembly elections in West Bengal, scheduled for next year, Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress has retained its stronghold, winning 50 of the 91 municipalities that went to polls on April 25.
In reply, Congress has captured six, mostly in North Bengal, as the Left Front has won five including two for CPM. Five municipalities seem to be headed for hung houses. However, the biggest surprise is BJP has failed to open its account despite the tall claims of BJP chief Amit Shah and predictions by political analysts in favour of the saffron party.
TMC captured Kanthi in East Midnapore winning all 21 wards. In Kolkata Municipal Corporation, TMC leads in 85 Of the 144 wards as Left Front in 12, BJP nine and Congress seven. TMC mayoral candidate Sovan Chatterjee has won with a margin of 5,500 votes and is all set to become the mayor for the second term. On the contrary, its Mayor candidate in Siliguri has lost. Former TMC general secretary Mukul Roy’s son Subhrangshu Roy won in Kanchrapara municipality.
The election to the 144-member Kolkata Municipal corporation was being viewed as a litmus test for all parties. For Trinamool Congress it was a fight to prove whether it still retained its popularity with urban voters, while for the CPI-M led Left Front it was an opportunity to snatch their lost ground from TMC.
