Bengal Left Front Wins Eight Municipalities

B Prasant

FOLLOWING the impressive electoral success in the recently concluded Panchayat polls, the Bengal Left Front has continued to post wins in the municipal elections as well.  Of the 13 urban local bodies that went to the polls on June 22, the Left Front was able to win eight with two municipalities facing a hung board.  Three municipalities went to the Pradesh Congress.  Neither the Trinamul Congress nor the BJP has managed to post a single win in this round of elections.  In the by-elections held for four wards, two were won by the Left Front while the Trinamul Congress and the Pradesh Congress won one each.

Of the municipalities that went to the polls, the Left Front won in Habra (north 24 Parganas district), Dalkhola (north Dinajpore district), Burdwan, and Guskara (both in the Burdwan district, Panihati (north 24 Parganas), Balurghat (south Dinajpore), Chakdaha (Nadia), and Mekhligunj (Coochbehar).

Of these, the BJP and later, a Trinamul Congress-BJP alliance has won the Habra municipality successively. This time the Left Front posted an impressive win here. The Left Front won the newly formed municipality of Dalkhola.  Two municipalities, Midnapore and Diamond Harbour saw ‘hung’ results.  The Pradesh Congress retained Haldibari (Coochbehar) and Alipurduar (Jalpaiguri).  The Pradesh Congress with help from the Trinamul Congress has won the Dubrajpore municipality in Birbhum.

In the by-election, one ward each in Jamuria (Burdwan) and Halisahar (Nadia) were won by the Left Front.  The Pradesh Congress and the Trinamul Congress won one ward each in the Garulia (north 24 Parganas) and Englishbazar (Maldah) respectively.

Of the 261 wards that went to the polls this time, the CPI(M) won 133, the CPI, 7, the RSP, 23, the Forward Bloc 10, and other Left Front constituents, 6.  The Left Front has won 179.  The Pradesh Congress has won in 41 wards, the Trinamul Congress in 26, the BJP in 4 and independents and others have won in 11 seats. 

In Chakdaha, the opposition could not win in a single ward.  In Burdwan, Balurghat, and Mekhligunj, the opposition were able to win one seat per municipality.  The Trinamul Congress MLA, Nirmal Ghosh who contested from a ward in the Panihati municipality, suffered an inglorious defeat at the hands of the LF-nominated CPI(M) candidate.