The Trinamool Congress made a clean sweep in the recent civic polls to four municipal corporations in West Bengal — Bidhannagar, Siliguri, Chandannagar and Asansol.
A total of 203 candidates were in the fray in 41 wards in Bidhannagar, while 200 contested in 47 wards in Siliguri civic body. Besides, there were 120 aspirants for 33 wards in Chandannagar and 430 candidates in 106 wards in Asansol.
The BJP won 12 out of 226 seats in the four corporation polls. The Left moved to second position as percentage of the votes received went up. The BJP’s total vote share in the four municipal corporations is less than the Left Front.
First, the by-elections in Shantipur Assembly constituency, then the Kolkata Municipal Corporation elections and now the total number of votes of CPIM in the four municipal corporations in Bengal have increased a little.
At a time when the BJP is losing ground in elections in the state, this increase in vote numbers is boosting the morale of the Left Front in its fight to regain its place in the opposition. However, there are conflict at the same time.
Left Front allies, such as the Forward Bloc, have been opposed to compromise with Congress for some time. This time around, the Left’s allies have been sidelined, just as the Left’s vote has increased without a compromise with the Congress in the four municipal elections.
Four in Siliguri, two in Asansol and one in Chandannagar, all winning candidates of the Left Front are from CPIM. The opinion of the left front partners, who could not even win a single municipal ward, is diminishing in this regard. But conflicts is growing inside the CPIM’s own camp.
The Congress had a separate candidate in the Shantipur assembly constituency by-election. The CPIM candidate had received good number of votes there. Besides, votes of the Left party have increased in Kolkata and four other corporation elections as compared to the last Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.
In four municipal corporation, the Left received 13.53% of the vote. If the average number of votes received by the Left in the four municipalities is different, the turnout is 16.12%, but the calculation of the overall average is a little different as the size of the municipalities vary.
The nomination and withdrawal process for 108 municipalities in the state has already been completed. Except for a few towns, the left didn’t have any agreement with the Congress. Most of the local CPIM leadership are of view that, when good results are coming without alliance.
But the political report draft prepared by the CPIM for the forthcoming state conference called for uniting all democratic and secular forces against the BJP and the TMC. The state leadership of the CPIM has not been able to close the door on compromise as the political line of the party has not changed and the upcoming Lok Sabha polls are in mind.
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