The Mamata Banerjee-led-Trinamool Congress clean swept the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) elections with the party winning 134 out of 144 seats.
The BJP won 3 seats, Left 2, Congress 2 while others won 3 seats each. In 2015, TMC had 114 seats, BJP had 7, Left parties had 15 while Congress and others had 5 and 3 seats respectively. While BJP sought young candidates like lawyers and professors, TMC gave many tickets to relatives of ministers.
Earlier, when the initial trends showed a landslide victory of the TMC, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said that this was a clear message of people having accepted their work.
Several TMC candidates such as former Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim, Debasish Kumar, Tarak Singh, and Mala Roy were declared as winners. The elections were held on Sunday (December 18) during which 63% of the total electorates cast their vote. Videos of TMC workers, flouting Coronavirus protocols, and celebrating outside the residence of CM was shared by news agency ANI.
While speaking about his victory, Hakim said, “We have never achieved such a massive victory before. Even in terms of state Assembly polls, our vote share has increased. We are delighted to get people’s support and blessings. We sincerely thank them.”
In a tweet, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee congratulated the party on its clean sweep. She wrote, “Heartiest congratulations to all candidates for your victory in the KMC elections. Remember to serve people with utmost diligence and gratitude! I wholeheartedly thank every single resident of KMC for putting their faith on us, once again.”
Suvendu Adhikari manhandled by police, was forced to protest at SEC office
On Sunday (December 19) evening, Suvendu Adhikari held a meeting with other party MLAs at his house. Citing a rule by the Election Commission that non-residents cannot enter Kolkata on polling day, the Bidhannagar police cordoned off the area outside Adhikari’s house and reportedly physically stopped him from meeting the Governor at Raj Bhavan.
“We cannot allow you to proceed to Kolkata as polling is being held and you are not residents of the metropolis,” a high-ranking police official reportedly told Suvendu Adhikari. Adhikari also alleged he was manhandled by a junior police officer, and that the gates of the MLA hostel in Kolkata were locked till 5 pm, preventing eight BJP legislators from attending a legislature party meeting. Later, he met the Governor and asked him to declare the poll as null and void.
BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari also held a sit-in protest within the office premises of the State Election Commissioner Office to protest against widespread rigging that took place during the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) polls. Adhikari led a delegation of BJP leaders into the State Election Commissioner Office and demanded repolling in the civic body polls. The BJP leader informed that only 20% of electorates could cast their votes and that over 100 incidents of poll irregularities had taken place.
Note: The report has been updated with latest information.