'TMC Resides In Hearts Of People': Mamata As Party Gains Huge Leads In Panchayat Polls

Mamata Banerjee has thanked people and said TMC lived in the hearts of people in the state as the party was poised for a big win in the Panchayat elections.

With almost 30,000 gram panchayat seats, the Trinamool Congress is poised for a landslide victor in the recently held three-tier panchayat election in the state and as celebrations broke out among party cadres, Bengal Chief Minister and party chief Mamata Banerjee took to Twitter to thank people people of West Bengal for the TMC's huge win. The counting for the election to the three-tier panchayat system, comprising zilla parishad, panchayat samiti and gram panchayat, was still underway.

This comes as the ruling Trinamool Congress is set to sweep the violence-scarred rural polls, as the overnight count of ballots gave it an unassailable lead in results declared till now by the State Election Commission.

The TMC has won 34,694-gram panchayat seats, besides leading in 677 seats, according to the SEC as of 1pm on Wednesday. In all elections are being held for 63,229 gram panchayat seats.

The ruling party’s nearest rival BJP has won 9,656 seats and is leading in 166 seats.

The CPI(M) has won 2,926 and is leading in 83 seats. The Congress won 2,535 seats and is leading in 65.

In Bhangore in South 24 Parganas, three persons including two activists of the Indian Secular Front (ISF) were killed and several others injured in a clash which took place outside a counting booth late Tuesday night, police said on Wednesday.

The ruling TMC won 6,335 Panchayat samiti seats while leading 214 seats. BJP has won 973 and is leading in 48 seats, while CPI(M) has won 173 seats and is leading in 16 others and Congress has won in 258 seats and is leading in 7 seats. Elections were held for 9,728 Panchayat Samiti seats.

TMC has also won 635 Zila Parishad seats so far and is leading in 164 others, with this it seems set to repeat its 2018 performance of controlling all the Zila parishads, despite marginally better showing by the BJP and CPI(M)-Congress alliance in some districts.

The BJP has in contrast won 21 and is leading in 6 seats. The CPI(M) has won 2 seats and is leading in 1 more seat, while Congress has won 6 and is leading in 6. In all, there are 928 Zila Parishad seats.

The elections are being seen by all parties as an indicator of which way the wind will blow in the 2024 parliamentary elections from this part of the country.

(With inputs from PTI)