TMC sweeps Bengal panchayat elections, wins over 34,000 seats, BJP wins 9,545

KOLKATA: The ruling Trinamool Congress on Wednesday looked set for a landslide victory in the violence-hit rural elections in Bengal as the overnight counting of ballots gave it an unassailable lead in the results declared so far by the State Election Commission. According to the SEC till 8 am on Wednesday, the ruling TMC has won 34,359 gram panchayat seats, with it leading in 752 seats. Its nearest rival BJP has won 9,545 seats and is leading in 180 seats. Altogether, elections are being held for 63,229 gram panchayat seats.

CPI(M) has won 2,885 seats and is leading in 96 seats. Congress won 2,498 seats and is leading on 72. Although the counting of votes was largely peaceful, sporadic incidents marred the hurling of bombs in Bhangar, where deaths were reported ahead of the polls, leading to firing by central forces and the state police on Tuesday night when an unruly mob attacked, injuring ISF supporters and policemen including an IPS officer.

The ruling TMC won 6,134 panchayat samiti seats while it was leading in 61 seats. BJP has won 939 seats and is leading in 149 seats, while CPI(M) has won 165 seats and is leading in 14 other seats and Congress has won 244 seats and is leading in 7 seats. Elections were held for 9,728 Panchayat Samiti seats. TMC has also won all 554 Zilla Parishad results declared so far and is leading in 201 others. In contrast, BJP has won 19 seats and is leading in 7 seats.

cre trending stories

CPI(M) has won 2 seats and is leading in 2 more seats, while Congress has won 4 seats and is leading in 10. In all, there are 928 Zilla Parishad seats. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who was injured during the election campaign, thanked people for reposing faith in her on Tuesday night.

In a statement, Banerjee said, “Rural Bengal is TMC in every way. I would like to thank people for their love, affection and support towards TMC. This election has proved that TMC is the only people of the state.” lives in the heart of social media post.

All parties are looking at these elections as an indicator of which way the wind will blow from this part of the country in the 2024 parliamentary elections.

At least 15 people lost their lives in the violence that broke out in the panchayat polls on Saturday, of which 11 belonged to the ruling TMC. The death toll in election-related incidents has risen to 33 since the elections were announced last month, of which 60 per cent have been attributed to the ruling party.

Allegations of vote-tampering and violence by various parties forced the SEC on Monday to order re-polling in 696 seats, which passed off more or less peacefully. Both the election and counting days saw the deployment of central police forces due to the intervention of the Calcutta High Court.

Although Bengal has a long history of violent rural elections, with 40 people killed on a single day of polling during the 2003 panchayat polls, this year’s violence, which was covered extensively by the media, has focused national attention.

Governor CV Anand Bose, who arrived in Delhi to report on the violence, told reporters on Tuesday, “Political parties should realize that elections are not the basis to test one’s physical strength.”

Officials said the counting of votes for the three-tier panchayat polls for nearly 74,000 seats, which includes gram panchayat seats, 9,730 panchayat samiti seats and 928 zilla parishad seats, began peacefully at 8 am on Tuesday amid tight security.

The counting of votes is underway at 339 locations spread over 22 districts and is likely to go on till Wednesday. The maximum number of counting centers are in 28 South 24 Parganas, while Kalimpong has the minimum number of four. Some northern districts are also facing inclement weather.

“The counting, which started at 8 am yesterday, continued throughout the night and will be completed today,” an SEC official said on Wednesday.

In the Darjeeling hills, out of 598 seats in Darjeeling and 281 seats in Kalimpong, the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) is leading in many areas and is likely to become the new number one in the hill districts of Bengal.

Armed state police personnel and central forces are deployed at all the counting centers and prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC have been imposed outside the venue to avoid any untoward incident. There are a total of 767 strong rooms in 22 districts.

Huge crowds of supporters of various candidates gathered at various centers to ensure that the counting of votes is done properly.

In various districts, TMC supporters celebrated their victory by dancing and smearing each other with the party’s chosen green colour.

A total of 5.67 crore people living in the state’s rural areas were eligible to decide the fate of 2.06 lakh candidates for 73,887 seats in the three-tier panchayat system.