The Left Front won the Jalpaiguri Zilla Parishad by a clear majority, wresting 23 seats out of 37. In North Dinajpur, the Left Front won 13 out of the 26 seats, while the Congress won 8 and the TMC 5. It was a Congress-run district council. In Maldah, the Left Front won 16, the Congress 16 and the TMC 6. Congress wrested the Murshidabad district council by winning 42 out of the 70 seats. In Nadia, the TMC won 25 while the LF won 21 in a close fight.
In the Panchayat Samitis, the Left Front won majority samitis or block level bodies in Jalpaiguri, North Dinajpur, Maldah, Murshidabad and Nadia. Out of 330 blocks, the Left Front won in 68, TMC in 219 and Congress in 20. 20 are undecided or hung. It is to be noted that TMC won in 870 of the panchayat samitis ‘without contest’.
In North 24 Parganas, despite widespread terror, the Left Front won in 7 out of the 22 blocks. In South 24 Parganas the LF won 5 of the 29 blocks.
In the village Panchayats or GPs, out of a total 3215 GP bodies, the Left Front won in 749. The TMC won in 1812 while the Congress won in 240. 393 bodies are hung. In a large number of GP bodies, the ruling party did not allow any opposition parties to file nomination. They won ‘uncontested’ in these bodies. TMC won in 5356 seats as ‘uncontested’ at this level. The actual figure is higher as they have put up ‘dummy’ candidates themselves.
TMC’s winning streak was largely manifested in the districts and areas where terror was much widespread. They won ‘handsomely’ in terrorized areas in Coochbehar, South Dinajpur, West Midnapore, East Midnapore, Birbhum, Burdwan. In North and South 24 Parganas the Left Front had alleged from the beginning itself that TMC was out to capture by force an entire area on border of the two districts. These apprehensions turned true.
Despite the widespread rigging and continuous terrorization of people and almost 50 deaths during the election period, the resistance by Left supporters and people in general was remarkable. Braving violence, the villagers voted for the Left parties in hundreds of villages in the state. Around 9000 LF candidates have won in the three tiers put together.
INN/Kolkata, July 30, 2013