TMC sweeps Kolkata municipal elections, Mamata calls it 'national mandate'

Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress has swept off the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) elections, winning 134 wards out of the 144, which the West Bengal Chief Minister termed as a “national mandate”, in an apparent reference to her prime ministerial ambitions.

“It’s a national mandate as other national parties also contested with Left and BJP and we have won, people have given a clear mandate, the vote took place in a festive mood and we are indebted to people,” Banerjee told reporters.

In a tweet Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee congratulated her candidates.

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.

— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) December 21, 2021

The BJP got three of the wards, Congress bagged 2, the Left Front 2 and Independents 3 in the 144 seat municipal corporation.

The Trinamool, which returned to power earlier this year with a giant victory over its challenger BJP in the assembly elections, seems to have improved its performance since 2015, when it had won 124 seats. The Trinamool Congress has been in power in the KMC since 2010, after which it went on to oust the 34-year rule of the Left front in the Assembly elections.

The Left and the Congress, after fighting the assembly election in an alliance, decided to contest the Kolkata civic polls separately.

One of the Trinamool’s main candidates this time is Kajari Banerjee, the sister-in-law of Banerjee. She is leading by more than 3,000 votes in Ward 73, Bhowanipore.

Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee thanked the people for the huge mandate. “People of Kolkata have once again proven that politics of HATE & VIOLENCE have NO PLACE in BENGAL! I thank everyone for blessing us with such a huge mandate. We are truly humbled and shall always remain committed in our goals towards YOUR BETTERMENT! Thank you Kolkata,” he tweeted.

The Bengal BJP has alleged violence and poll violations in the civic election. In a letter to the state election commission on Sunday, the party described the polls as a farce.

“Is this vote? This is a farce, it is totally undemocratic, we don’t accept this. In Tripura, they did not have a candidate, here they did not allow to vote,” BJP vice-president Dilip Ghosh said.

Earlier, the Trinamool had accused the BJP of trying to draw voters with the lure of biryani in one of the wards.

During Sunday’s vote, there were sporadic incidents of violence. Bombs were allegedly thrown at two polling booths.