Landslide win: TMC leaders say people are with Mamata, while opposition parties dispute it

Trinamool Congress has bagged landslide victory in the elections for four municipal corporations, namely Asansol Municipal Corporation,  Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation, Chandernagore Municipal Corporation, and Siliguri Municipal Corporation, that went for polls on February 12, 2022.

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress has bagged landslide victory in the elections for four municipal corporations, namely Asansol Municipal Corporation, Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation, Chandernagore Municipal Corporation, and Siliguri Municipal Corporation, that went for polls on February 12, 2022.

One figure is enough to justify why the victory of the state’s ruling party in a landslide in the true sense. Altogether 226 wards in these four municipalities went for polls on February 12, 2022. Out of the 226 wards, Trinamool Congress won in 198 wards, while the opposition and the independents combined won just 28 wards. This means that the ruling party in the state bagged 88 percent of the wards that went to the polls.

As far as individual vote percentage share for four municipalities, the Left Front was in the second position in Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation and Chandernagore Municipal Corporation, while BJP was in the second position in Asansol Municipal Corporation and Siliguri Municipal Corporation.

Now ruling party activists and leaders claim that the overwhelming public support is still with Trinamool Congress. But the rival political parties are reluctant to buy this argument.

According to West Bengal Pradesh Committee president and Congress Lok Sabha member, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, there had been a farce in the name of elections last Saturday. “I fail to understand why the ruling party, elected by the people to rule the state for three consecutive terms is so afraid to face genuine public mandate. What would they have lost if they had failed to form board in one municipal corporation?” he questioned.

Similarly, CPI(M)’s central committee member, Dr. Sujan Chakraborty said since the people were not allowed to vote the results do not reflect the true public mandate. “However, we have to take lessons too from our mistakes,” he said.

However, Trinamool Congress leaders have described these opposition statements as lame excuses for hiding their failures. According to senior Trinamool Congress legislator, Tapas Roy, after every humiliating defeat in any election the opposition parties always resort to such baseless allegations about election malpractices. However, he said that this landslide victory has prompted the ruling party to be more responsible.

"The entire credit for this victory goes to our supreme leader, Mamata Banerjee. Hence just as the landslide victory is the expression of the love of the people towards Trinamool Congress at the same time it is a reminder for us about our responsibilities," Roy said.