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Supporters of the All India Trinamool Congress celebrate after the Panchayat poll election results outside a counting station in South 24 Parganas on Thursday.[/caption]
Kolkata, May 17 (IANS): The ruling Trinamool Congress on Thursday looked set for a resounding victory crushing all opposition parties in rural West Bengal, after nearly 11 hours of vote count in the three-tier state Panchayat election, with the BJP emerging a distant second in almost all the districts.
The Left Front, which ruled the state for 34 years till 2011, lay decimated in the third position, while the Congress was virtually wiped out in Monday’s polls, which were marred by widespread violence and allegations of strong-arm tactics and irregularities against the Trinamool.
As per latest reports, the Trinamool had won or was in the lead in over 80 per cent of the lowest tier Gram Panchayat seats, and over 90 per cent of the middle level Panchayat Samiti seats. In the top tier, Zilla Parishad, the Trinamool almost wiped out the opposition. According to the latest figures, Trinamool has won in 20 out of 825 Zilla Parishad seats and is comfortably leading in another 22, while the opposition parties drew a blank.
The state’s ruling party also has won or was ahead of its rivals in 570 Panchayat Samiti seats. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Left Front have won or were leading in 24 and seven seats, respectively. In the vote count for the Gram Panchayat, the Trinamool has already won or was leading in 16,166 seats, leaving the BJP far behind at 4,020 and the LF at 1,142.
The BJP, however, gave a tough fight to the Trinamool in two western districts -- Purulia and Jhargram.
The Panchayat Samiti was, however, won by the ruling party strongman Arabul Islam who was arrested a day before the election for his alleged involvement in the murder of a local youth. The Trinamool Congress leadership refused to celebrate as a lot of counting still remained.
In Birbhum district, BJP and Trinamool Congress activists clashed with each other outside a counting station. The police had to resort to baton charge to disperse the mob.
According to the state administration, 12 people lost their lives on the polling day among which death of six people were confirmed to be due to poll violence. However, opposition political parties claimed the death toll on the polling day had gone up to 21, while five more people died the next day.
Statistics reveal that of the total 58,692 seats in the three tiers of the rural local bodies, 20,076 seats, or 34.2 per cent, have been decided uncontested, with the Trinamool bagging a whopping proportion of these seats.
