People's Democracy

B Prasant

IN an impressive show of strength, the West Bengal Left Front has won the bulk of the seats contested at the Zilla Parishad, Panchayat Samity and Gram Panchayat levels.

Of the results declared till December 11 evening, Left Front candidates had won 11 out of the 12 Zilla Parishad seats, 50 out of 70 Panchayat Samity seats, and 229 out of 330 Gram Panchayat seats.

The CPI(M) made notables gains in the bypolls. In Zilla Parishads, it won 10 seats, with one seat going to Forward Bloc in Coochbehar. The Trinamul Congress, Congress(I) and BJP drew a blank.

In Panchayat Samity polls, the CPI(M) won 45 seats, with four going to the RSP and one to Forward Bloc (Marxist). The Congress(I) won 10 seats, the Trinamul Congress 5, SUCI 2, and independents 2.

At the Gram Panchayat level, the CPI(M) won 196 Gram Panchayat seats, with the CPI winning 12, the Forward Bloc 10, and the RSP and DSP one each. The Trinamul Congress won 47 seats, the Congress(I) 38, the BJP 4, and the GNLF, JKP(N) and CPI(M-L) one each.

In districts like Midnapore, Burdwan, Nadia, Bankura, Hooghly, and Jalpaiguri in particular, the Left Front has been able to wrest a large number of seats from the opposition groups including the Congress(I), Trinamul Congress and BJP.

Left Front chairman Biman Basu and the state CPI(M) Anil Biswas have congratulated the people of Bengal for their political sagacity in ensuring yet another big win for the Left Front in the rural bypolls.