West Bengal: TMC Clinches Victory in Municipal Polls Amid Allegations of Major Rigging

Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) swept the West Bengal civic elections, winning 102 of the 108 municipalities that went to the polls on February 27. However, the election was marred with poll-related violence and allegations of large scale rigging.

The enormity of the alleged rigging led to nine journalists being injured as their presence during the purported vote loot was a hindrance.

Despite the alleged vote loot, the trend of the Left's increased vote share was noticeable in this election. The Left Front's vote share went from 5.69% during last year's Assembly polls to 15.6% on its own and 17% considering its supported independent candidates in the municipal election. However, the result also threw abnormal voting percentages, such as 95% polling, at various places, bolstering the accusations of vote loot. The TMC won in 1870 wards out of 2170 wards, and practically, there is nil opposition in 38 municipalities in West Bengal.

Taherpur Model

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)], along with the Left Front, managed to put a surprise win amid allegations of vote loot in Taherpur municipal body of Nadia district, bagging eight seats; two seats going to the Congress. It was in Taherpur that a student of 8th class, Arnish Das, and his friends took part in anti-rigging efforts of the Left and got severely injured in the process. Interestingly, after the Left's victory, the OC of Taherpur police station, Abhijit Biswas, was removed from his post. The opposition says it was done ostensibly for his failure to secure a TMC win in the municipal body. 

In Taherpur, hooligans came from Baguna and Bhaina on the poll day; despite their attempts at booth capturing, the Left brigade stood their ground in protecting the booths. After 1.30 pm on February 27, outsiders tried to enter the poll premises and throw the CPI(M) polling agents out of the booths. However, these attempts were resisted by the local population, who also took part in the anti-rigging efforts. The model is now being dubbed the Taherpur model for free and fair polls in the state.

Voting Trends

However, as the trend goes, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was again relegated to third place in the state, managing to get 13.99% votes while the Congress got 5% of the polled votes. In the Darjeeling municipal body, the BJP ended up empty-handed, and the newly formed HUMRO party won in all but two seats that went to the TMC's coffer. The state BJP has called the election a "farce" and said it did not accept the results.

As per reports from the state Election Commission office, the TMC got 62.44% of the polled votes across all 108 municipalities, the CPI(M) got 13.92% of votes, Forward Block 0.71%, CPI 0.67%, RSP 0.33%. In total, the Left got 15.6%, the BJP got 13.99%, and Congress 5% of the votes polled.

The BJP has failed to win any single Urban Local Body (ULB ) in the elections; 63 wards went to the BJP, 56 wards to the Left Front, and 59 to the Congress. Out of the Left Front constituents, CPI(M) has won 48 wards, CPI in three wards, Forwrad Block in four, and RSP in one. The Left-backed independents also clinched victory in multiple wards.

In North Bengal and the western part of the state, the BJP, barring Sonamukhi municipality in Bankura, has come second; in the places, the Left has finished second to the TMC.

In Birbhum, where TMC leader and known muscleman Anubrata Mandal's writ looms large, the CPI(M) clinched an important victory as Sanjib Mallick snatched Rampurhat ward no. 17 from the TMC. Interestingly, Sanjib Mallick is now languishing in jail for thwarting an alleged TMC attack in his ward on the poll day.

CPI(M) State secretariat member and former MP Shamik Lahiri, speaking to Newsclick, condemned the said all-out rigging in the elections and said that "despite the vote loot, the Left has managed to increase its vote share in these elections. The media narrative on the binary of two sides (TMC and BJP) is now falling apart, and this election is an important step in that."

In his reaction to the result, CPI(M) Politburo member MD Salim said that despite the "farcical" voting process where "the referee and the linesman all sided with the TMC", the Left has still increased its vote share. He added that where there have been free and fair elections, like in Taherpur, people resisted the vote loot and the Left tasted success.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has congratulated the state's people for the TMC's victory and urged her party members to act responsibly and go to people by visiting door to door.