The Trinamool Congress registered a landslide victory in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) elections, winning 134 of the 144 wards. The BJP, which had emerged as the main opposition party in the recent Assembly polls earlier this year, won three seats, while the Left Front and Congress won two each.
The Independents, with three seats, ended on an equal footing with the non-TMC parties. In terms of vote share, the Trinamul tricolour with the twin flower emblem stood the tallest, as 71.9 per cent of the city residents voted in favour of the party, increasing its vote share by as much as 22% from 2015 civic polls, but also saw its votes rise from the March-April Assembly polls, by 11%.
In 2015, when the KMC elections were last held, the TMC had won 124 wards, the Left 13, the BJP 5 and Congress 2.The BJP’s comparative vote share was 6% below 2015, and 20% lesser than the Assembly polls; and the Left’s 13% less than the 2015 polls, but 7% more than the Assembly elections.
The only solace for the Left, which has been bleeding under the double onslaught of the Trinamul and the BJP, was that it managed to increase it’s vote share and ahead of BJP in vote share.
West Bengal Chief Minister and party chief Mamata Banerjee termed that “It is a victory of democracy and the people. The election was held like a festival. People exercised their franchise peacefully.” She asserted that the TMC’s performance in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation elections was evidence of the people’s trust in the party.
The BJP called the results a farce. Spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said sarcastically: “We are surprised. The TMC should have won all the seats given the kind of violence and booth-rigging that took place.”
The Opposition parties, which had sought Central forces to monitor polling, have said their polling agents were driven out of booths and candidates beaten up during Sunday’s voting. Crude bombs went off at three places, leaving three injured.
There was about 64% polling and more than 200 arrests. The BJP and CPM have moved the Calcutta High Court seeking fresh elections. The case will be heard on December 23. Though it won only three seats, the Left emerged second in 65 wards. The BJP came second in 48, the Congress in 16 and Independents in 5.
After Mamata and Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek, a third family member from 30B Harish Chatterjee, Kajari Banerjee, social worker and wife of Mamata’s brother Kartik, made her debut in electoral politics.
The incumbent Mayor in the outgoing civic board, which has been under an administrator for over a year since polls were deferred, Firhad Hakim too won comfortably from ward 87 and is now leading the race for the Mayor’s chair.
