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Mamata’s ‘friendly party’ sweeps GTA polls; TMC wins panchayats, municipal seats
The TMC swept 19 of the 22 village panchayats under the Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad in north Bengal and four of the six municipal wards in the districts of North 24 Parganas, Hooghly and Purulia
Kolkata/Siliguri: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee consolidated her position on Wednesday when the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM), which she describes as a friendly party, won the elections to the Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA) while the Trinamool Congress (TMC) swept 19 of the 22 village panchayats under the Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad in north Bengal and four of the six municipal wards in the districts of North 24 Parganas, Hooghly and Purulia.
All these polls and by-polls were held on Sunday.
Results from across the state showed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ended third on many seats while the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M), retained several rural seats in the Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad and wrested ward no 17 at Chandannagar Municipality in Hooghly district after 32 years.
In Darjeeling, BGPM president Anit Thapa is all set to head the GTA.
Formed nine months ago, the BGPM independently contested 36 of the 45 GTA seats and secured 27 while the TMC won five of the 10 seats it contested, its first victory in this election.
Hamro Party, which, too, was recently founded by Ajoy Edwards, owner of a famous confectionary outlet in Darjeeling, won eight seats. Independent nominees wrested the remaining five.
The GTA polls widened differences among local Gorkha parties, with 277 candidates, of whom a record 178 were independent nominees, contesting the polls. There are 70,0326 voters in the hill region.
The last GTA polls were held in 2012 and the tenure of the semi-autonomous body entrusted with local development ended in 2017.
The BJP, which won the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat thrice in a row since 2009, and the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) opposed the GTA elections alongside the Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists (CPRM) and All India Gorkha League (AIGL).
These parties argued that Mamata Banerjee held the polls against people’s wishes because the GTA obstructs the demand for a permanent political solution to the Gorkhaland issue.
The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), which carried forward the Gorkhaland movement after GNLF and helped the BJP win the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat thrice, became an ally of the TMC before the 2021 assembly polls. But GJM president Bimal Gurung boycotted the GTA polls while many of his former leaders contested as independent candidates.
Anit Thapa and Binoy Tamang, who were earlier leaders in the GJM, became allies of the state government in 2017. Both of them served as nominated chairman of the GTA board of administrators.
Thapa said: “The real challenge lies ahead as many problems are yet to be solved. I will soon meet the chief minister in Kolkata. She congratulated me today.”
Edwards said: “We accept the people’s verdict. We will work as a responsible and strong opposition.”
The GTA election was a litmus test for Thapa since he lost the Darjeeling municipal election held earlier this year. Hamro Party won the polls.
The Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad polls were held because the tenure of the old Left-led panchayat boards ended. The TMC won 19 of the 22 gram panchayats while the BJP managed to win 10 panchayat samiti seats.
By-polls at six municipal wards in North 24 Parganas, Hooghly and Purulia were held because of the death of six candidates who contested the state’s civic polls held on February 27. Two of the winners were murdered. Anupam Dutta, a TMC leader, and Tapan Kandu of the Congress were killed in North 24 Parganas and Purulia respectively on March 13.
Dutta’s wife, Minakshi, contested from ward No 8 of Panihati municipality that her husband represented and won by 2,274 votes. “This is Anupam’s victory,” she said.
Kandu, who won from ward No 2 of Jhalda municipality in Purulia for the fourth time this year, was shot by some motorcycle-borne men when he was out for a walk. The murder is being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under orders of the Calcutta high court. His wife, Purnima Kandu is also a Congress councillor.
The seat Kandu represented was won by one of his nephews, Mithun Kandu. “People have given a befitting reply to my uncle’s murder,” he said.
TMC Rajya Sabha member Santanu Sen said: “From the hills of Darjeeling to the plains of North 24 Parganas, people have expressed their support for the state government.”
Bengal BJP’s chief spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya alleged that the results did not reflect the real verdict of the voters because the polls were not free and fair.
“The state election commission has been reduced to a TMC party office. Hence, the results you see are not surprising,” said Bhattacharya.
