The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) has won the municipal elections in West Bengal, winning majority of the seats in four out of seven bodies. The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) and BJP combine won the remaining three municipal bodies. However, TMC made inroads in the hills by winning the Mirik municipality.

The results conclusively prove that TMC is going strong in the state despite the spate of corruption cases against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led party. Secondly, TMC has maintained its hold over the electorate in the plains besides making inroads in the hills.

The seven municipalities which went to polls are Kurseong, Darjeeling and Mirik in Darjeeling district; Kalimpong in the newly announced Kalimpong district; Pujali in South 24 Parganas district; Raiganj in North Dinajpur district; and Domkal municipality in Murshidabad district.

TMC has won Pujali, Raiganj, Domkal and Mirik while GJM-BJP combine has bagged Kurseong, Darjeeling and Kalimpong.

SETBACK FOR BJP

The results of the municipal elections also point towards BJP's failure to establish themselves as an alternative to the ruling TMC. BJP has received a setback as it has managed to win just three seats - two of the total 16 in Pujali and one out of 27 in Raiganj.

BJP had campaigned aggressively for the municipal elections which were held on May 14, though amidst complains of violence and booth-capturing. The opposition parties had demanded scrapping of the municipal elections.

BJP'S MULTI-PRINGED STRATEGY FAILS

The party ruling at the Centre has launched a multi-pronged strategy to register an impressive performance in the 2019 lok Sabha elections. In a bid to strengthen the organization, BJP president Amit Shah had toured West Bengal to launch 'Vistar Yatra' in Naxalbari on April 25.

He visited a tribal's house and knocked door-to-door as part of an intensive booth-level mass contact programme in the cradle of the 50-year-old Maoist movement. He also held a meeting of party workers in booth number 93 of the Naxalbari Assembly constituency.

Amit Shah also went to Mamata Banerjee's Bhawanipur constituency in Kolkata the next day and launched mission "Ebaar Bangla" (West Bengal this time).

BJP has been attacking Mamata Banerjee and TMC over the corruption cases and law and order issues. It harped on scams like Narada, Sarada and Rose Valley. With senior TMC leaders such as Sudip Banerjee and Tapas Pal behind the bars, BJP highlighted the corruption by the ruling party during Mamata Banerjee's regime.

The party also strived hard to publicise the developmental programmes of the Modi government.

However, these efforts seem to have made no mark in the municipal elections.

NO ENCOURAGING SIGNS FOR BJP SINCE 2016 ASSEMBLY AND 2014 LOK SABHA POLLS

In the 2016 West Bengal Assembly elections, BJP had bagged three seats as against just one which it had won in the 2011 polls. In 2011, BJP had garnered about 4 per cent votes which increased to 10.2 per cent vote share in 2016.

The party hopes that a jump of more than 20 per cent vote share will get translated into seats in the next polls.

BJP had garnered 17.5 per cent votes in West Bengal during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. This dipped to 10.2 per cent in the 2016 Assembly polls. Despite this setback, BJP won three seats for the first time in the state. In 2016 polls, BJP not only fetched about 56 lakh votes, as against 19.5 lakh in 2011, it also made its presence felt in 262 out of 294 Assembly segments by polling more than 10,000 votes.

In 2014, BJP believes it had secured 17 per cent votes because of the Narendra Modi wave across the country. It did not have any organisational base then. In 2016, there was no such wave. What it achieved was because of the organisational strength.

More than winning three seats, the party made its presence felt in maximum seats and secured second position in seven seats. It secured between 20,000 and 30,000 votes in 66 seats, 30,000 and 40,000 votes in 16 seats and between 40,000 and 50,000 votes in six seats.

BJP was instrumental in the defeat of 70 candidates of Congress and the Left by eating into their vote share and garnering about 5,000 to 10,000 votes.

Despite these statistics, BJP has been left far behind TMC in the municipal elections. This may force the party to work harder and rework its strategy to present itself as an alternative to TMC in the state.

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