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Updated: Jun 07, 2019 16:36 IST

BJP leaders in West Bengal have demanded elections be held in 18 municipalities in the state, the terms of which ended in the last quarter of 2018 but are run by state government-appointed administrators.

The BJP stance has been prompted by the fact that out of these 18 civic bodies, the party was ahead of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in ten according to the Lok Sabha poll results. The Bharatiya Janata Party won 18 of the 42 seats in the state up from just two in 2014.

“We would be pushing for immediate elections in these municipalities. If the elections are conducted now, we will be able to win at least 14 out of these 18 civic bodies,” the BJP’s Bengal unit president Dilip Ghosh said on Friday.

Of the 18, the term of the boards of 17 ended between October and December last year.

These are Panihati, Habra (North 24 Parganas district), Diamond Harbour (South 24 Parganas), Burdwan, Guskara (East Burdwan) Berhampore (Murshidabad) , Jhargram (Jhargram) , Midnapore, (West Midnapore) Alipurduar (Alipurduar), Haldibari, Mekhliganj (Cooch Behar), Balurghat (South Dinajpur) Dalkhola (North Dinajpur), Krishnagar, Chakdaha (Nadia), Howrah (Howrah) and Dubarajpur (Birbhum).

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In case of Chandannagar in Hooghly district, the board was dissolved before tenure and an administrator appointed to run it.

Of the 18, BJP was ahead in Panihati, Habra, Jhargram, Midnapore, Alipurduar, Haldibari, Mekhliganj, Balurghat, Dalkhola and Chakdaha in the Lok Sabha polls.

In the case of Berhampore, Congress was ahead. In the rest seven, TMC was ahead of its rivals.

No TMC leader was ready to comment on the BJP demand. However, a senior member of the state cabinet said on the condition of anonymity that the party was divided on the matter.

“A faction, smaller in number, feels that elections should be conducted immediately to deny the BJP any chance to fan public grievance on this issue. However, the majority in the party are against it. They are arguing that holding the elections in 2020 along with Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) will give an opportunity to regain public confidence,” said the minister.

He also said that elections now would again interrupt the projects in these civic areas, said the minister.

Next year, elections would be held in as many as 82 municipal corporations and civic bodies including KMC and BMC.

The BJP won as many as 18 seats in Bengal, a state with 42 constituencies, which is nine times its 2014 tally, also its historic high, of two seats. The TMC won 22.

The BJP’s vote share rose from 17.02% in 2014 to 40.25% this year, while the TMC’s share crept up from 39.79% to 43.28% in the same period.

Significantly, on June 4, just 12 days after the Lok Sabha election results were announced, the BJP gained control of the first municipality in West Bengal, when Saurav Singh was elected the chairperson of Bhatpara municipality.

Saurav Singh, the nephew of Barrackpore BJP MP Arjun Singh, was supported by 26 of the 35 councillors of the civic body, ending the grip of the TMC on the municipality that began in 2010.