Kolkata: The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Monday made a clean sweep in all four municipal corporations - Bidhannagar, Siliguri, Asansol and Chandannagar - in West Bengal that went to polls on Saturday. The party registered its first electoral victory in the Siliguri Municipal Corporation in north Bengal.
“I am going to Siliguri today. This is indeed a big day. We are thankful to the people. It was a peaceful election,” said TMC president and state’s chief minister Mamata Banerjee. “…With this victory, we have to be more humble, more humane, work more and stand beside the people in times of need.”
The TMC, which was already ruling the Bidhannagar, Asansol and Chandannagar municipal corporations, snatched the Siliguri civic body, which was being ruled by the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Front by winning 37 of the 47 seats. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won five wards in Siliguri, the CPI(M) came third with four while the Congress could manage only one seat. In 2015, the Left Front won 23 wards against the TMC, which won 17 seats.
The TMC retained Bidhannagar by winning 39 out of 41 seats, but opposition BJP and the CPI(M) failed to open their account. The Congress managed to bag one seat, and an Independent candidate secured victory in one ward. In Chandernagore, the TMC bagged 31 of the 32 seats, while the CPI(M) won in one ward.
In Asansol, the TMC emerged victorious in 66 of the 106 seats and was leading in five wards, while the BJP won in five seats, and the CPI(M) and Congress in two each. Senior TMC leader and former state minister Goutam Deb said, “We have achieved today, what the Left didn’t allow us to do in 2009. Full circle has been completed.” After the results, the TMC chief announced Deb’s name for the mayor of Siliguri.
