Thaindian News

Kolkata, June 5 (IANS) West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress stole a march over its opponents, bagging four civic bodies, while the Left Front and the Congress clinched one each in results announced Tuesday.

The elections to the six civic bodies were held Sunday.

The Trinamool snatched Dhupguri municipality in Jalpaiguri district in the north from the Left. It was a major gain as the Left retained Dhupguri assembly seat last year despite losing the state.

The Trinamool also won Burdwan district’s Durgapur Municipal Corporation, which the Left Front lost for the first loss in 15 years.

The Trinamool retained the Panskura municipality in East Midnapore district, but more importantly it triumphed in the Nalhati municipality in Birbhum district.

It was hearbreak for the Congress as Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s son Abhijit, the party legislator from Nalhati, and had played an active role in the election campaign.

The Congress had won Nalhati in 2007 but lost control of the board after some of its councilors switched over to the Trinamoool.

The Trinamool and the Congress, allies in the central and state governments, fought separately in the civic polls for the first time after the assembly polls.

The Left Front, however, retained East Midnapore district’s Haldia municipality.

This is located close to Nandigram, where Banerjee led a successful protest movement that helped it to rally the rural voters in the state and unseat the Left from power.

For the Congress, the sole consolation was its success in retaining Cooper’s Camp municipality in Nadia district.