People's Democracy

WEST BENGAL

Left Front Registers Wins In Civic Polls

B  Prasant

THE popular mandate remained with the Left Front as it went ahead to win three of the five municipalities that went to the polls on May 26.

The five urban local bodies that went to the polls on May 26 were Durgapur, Dhupguri, Panskura, Nalhati, and Cooper’s Camp. Of these, the Left Front retained the first three; the remaining two went to the Pradesh Congress.

The Left Front swept the byelections held in different municipal wards in Kolkata, Howrah, Dum Dum, north Barrackpore, and Burdwan town on the same day.

The Left Front swept the Panskura municipal bypolls. The violent "Panskura line" evolved by the Trinamul-BJP-PWG combination during the Lok Sabha polls some time ago and followed in the assembly polls last year appeared only as a distant if disturbing memory. The Left Front also won by a big margin the bypoll held in Kolkata’s ward 10.

The Trinamul Congress-BJP combine received a drubbing in this latest round of civic elections, with their candidates having to lose their deposits in many instances.

Of the two municipalities the Left Front lost, Pradesh Congress managed to retain Cooper’s Camp, and posted a win in the newly constituted Nalhati municipality.

In all, of the 117 wards for which polls were organised, the Left Front won 82, the Pradesh Congress 26, the Trinamul Congress 7, and the BJP 1. A preliminary analysis of the poll results show that the seats won by the Left Front as well as the percentage of votes cast in its favour went up in every municipality where the polls or bypolls were held.

In most instances, the Left Front candidates won by large margins whereas their margins of losses remained, in most cases, quite small.

Addressing the Kolkata media at Muzaffar Ahmad Bhavan, state CPI(M) secretary Anil Biswas congratulated the people of Bengal for ensuring the continued electoral success of the Left Front. Biswas noted how the popular support for the Left Front "has got further consolidated in the urban areas in recent times as the recent civic polls doubtlessly demonstrate."

Left Front chairman and senior CPI(M) leader Biman Basu, too, felicitated the electorate for the Left Front’s popular win in the municipal elections.