TMC Dominates West Bengal Panchayat Polls with 12,518 Seats, BJP Trails at 2,781

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) has maintained its early lead in the panchayat poll results in West Bengal. According to the State Election Commission site, TMC has emerged victorious in 12,518 seats, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won 2,781 seats. The Congress party has secured 625 seats thus far. The trends indicate that TMC is leading in 3,620 panchayat seats, while BJP is leading in 915. The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) has won 625 seats and is leading in 276.

The polling, which took place on July 8, witnessed instances of violence, leading to repolls being conducted at 696 booths. The counting process for Gram Panchayats, Zilla Samitis, and Zilla Parishads is currently underway, with sufficient deployment of security forces and the installation of CCTV cameras at the counting centres.

These panchayat elections were seen as a crucial test of the Mamata Banerjee government’s popularity, particularly in the wake of numerous arrests made in connection with an alleged teachers’ recruitment scam. Unfortunately, the violence during the elections resulted in the loss of at least 10 lives. Approximately 5.67 crore voters participated in the elections, determining the fate of 2.06 lakh candidates.