Kolkata: Bengal’s violence-marred rural vote gave Trinamool Congress a massive, morale-boosting mandate, going into next year’s big Lok Sabha battle - all 20 zilla parishads, 317 of the 341 panchayat samitis, and 2,644 of the 3,317 gram panchayats at stake.
Second-placed BJP’s tally of six panchayat samitis and 220 gram panchayats accentuated TMC’s dominance in the three-tier elections, which appeared a foregone conclusion as results and trends emerged on the first day of counting. The once-mighty Left finished with a piffling two panchayat samitis and 38 gram panchayats, while Congress drew a blank in the second tier of the rural structure and won four in the third.
BJP lost ground to TMC in the bastions of Union ministers Nisith Pramanik, John Barla and Shantanu Thakur. It got a slim lead in Nandigram, home to state oppn leader Suvendu Adhikari.
“It’s TMC all the way in rural Bengal. I want to thank the people for their love, affection and support towards TMC. This election has proved that only TMC resides in the heart of the people of the state”, CM Mamata Banerjee wrote on Facebook.
BJP put up a semblance of a fight in Coochbehar and Alipurduar, besides pockets of some districts like East Midnapore's Nandigram, leader of the opposition Suvendu Adhikari’s home turf. But the saffron party's vote share shrank even in these places, stretching from Dinhata in north Bengal to the Matuadominated areas of Thakurnagar in south Bengal that were considered its strongholds until two years ago.
Trinamool made inroads into the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe pocket boroughs of BJP that had given the party eight of its 18 Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 elections. The repolling which was ordered was again marred by violence in several booths. Around 40 people have died due to poll-related violence. Repolling was held in 696 booths amid allegations of electoral fraud, booth capturing, and multiple reports of electoral irregularities and voter suppression during the polling
Poll wins will be subject to court orders
The Calcutta high court directed West Bengal State Election Commission (SEC) to inform all elected candidates that their poll wins would be subject to the orders passed on petitions challenging the election process. The HC also held that all steps taken by the SEC so far - from the conduct of the panchayat polls on July 8 to the declaration of results - would be subject to court orders.
The bench directed the SEC to file its response by July 24, and fixed the matter for hearing on July 26. “The court is surprised to note that the state is not able to control violence even after the declaration of results,” a division bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya observed.
The bench directed the SEC, the state and the Centre to file affidavits on the complaints by July 18. “The responsibility to ensure that there is no breach of peace lies with the state. It becomes a serious matter if the state can’t do that,” the bench said. The court scheduled the next hearing on July 21. “The court is monitoring the election process. . . When the court is seized of the matter, it goes without saying that whatever has been done thus far (by the SEC) will be subject to the ultimate orders passed in this writ petition,” the bench ordered.