In a development that could provide a sagging left Front some oxygen before the next year’s Assembly elections, the Marxists on Wednesday recorded a thumping victory over the ruling Trnamool Congress in the Siliguri rural elections.
The Red brigade bagged 11 out of 22 gram panchayats while the Trinamool won four. The remaining seven hung houses tilted heavily towards the left with the Congress which had some kind of pre-electoral understanding with the Marxists likely to back them.
In panchayat samity elections too, the left won two out of four bodies while the remaining two were hung houses once again the Congress playing a vital catalyst.
The results seemed to be more convincing as the Marxists won six out of nine Siliguri sub-divisional board seats giving the left a major headway in the North Bengal politics.
The Trinamool however held sway in the rural by-elections in southern Bengal winning about 50 seats while the left could win only 11.
“The massive victory in Siliguri is a clear indication of what is going to happen in the State if the elections are organised in a free and fair manner. Even in southern parts of Bengal the results would have been different had the rural voters not been threatened beforehand,” said CPI(M)’s North Bengal points man and Siliguri Mayor Ashok Bhattacharya who had this time round managed to unite the entire opposition to preempt any attempt of booth capturing.
Trinamool leader and Minister Subroto Mukherjee however said his party would give a different result in the Assembly elections.
Meanwhile, no counting took place on Wednesday for three municipal corporations of Bidhannagar, Asansol and Bally which had witnessed massive violence last Saturday when hundreds of Trinamool musclemen captured booths attacked voters and assaulted the media injuring at least 23 of them in a matter of few hours.
Transport Secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay who was hurriedly appointed as the new but temporary State Election Commissioner after his predecessor SR Upadhyaya resigned on Tuesday following reports of him being humiliated by senior Trinamool leaders refused to make any commitment on counting for the three Corporations.
This while the Opposition threatened to move the High Court against his appointment as SEC while still continuing as a Government servant.