Trinamul Congress retains Panskura with absolute majority

5 June 2012

biswabrata goswami
HALDIA, 5 JUNE: In the first major election where the ruling allies ~ Congress and Trinamul Congress ~ contested independently after last year’s Assembly poll, Trinamul Congress retained its Panskura civic body with an absolute majority, but failed to snatch the Haldia municipality from the Left Front.
Though Trinamul had pinned hopes of winning both, party chief Mamata Banerjee’s paribartan seems to have failed in the industrial town of Haldia.
The party has bagged 12 out of 17 seats in Panskura while it has won 11 out of the 26 seats in Haldia. In the previous poll, the Trinamul Congress had won six seats in Haldia. Although it has been able to increase its hold on the number of seats, yet it has failed to snatch the civic body from the Left Front. On the other hand, the Left Front has bagged five seats in Panskura and has been able to retain the Haldia civic body by winning 15 seats.
However, the CPI-M won wards 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24. The party's former Haldia civic body chairperson, Mrs Tamalika Panda Seth, defeated the Trinamul candidate, Mr Sheikh Ajijul Rahman, by 265 votes. In a few wards, the contest between two warring candidates was pretty tough. For example, in Ward 3 the CPI-M candidate, Mr Abhimanya Mondol, won by a narrow margin of 42 votes while in Ward 5, the Trinamul’s Ms Mayarani Naskar defeated her opponent by only 52 votes.
In Panskura, the Trinamul Congress won wards 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 17. In most wards, the BJP and the Congress also secured many votes. 
CPI-M leader Niranjan Sihi, however, alleged that the Trinamul Congress had unleashed a reign of terror in many wards that prevented many of their supporters from voting. In Haldia, Mrs Tamalika Panda Seth, said the verdict has once again proved that Haldia municipality was capable of carrying out development works for the sake of people.
Trinamul MP Subhendu Adhikari said: “We have fared well than in the previous poll. It is true that we could not replace the CPI-M in the Haldia civic body this time also, but the number of our seats has increased.” The Trinamul has been accused of unleashing a reign of terror on CPI-M workers and supporters at different wards in Haldia. Mrs Seth alleged that her vehicle was gheraoed by Trinamul workers when she left the counting centre. They also threw stones. Police intervened and resorted to a lathi-charge to disperse the mob.  Later, Trinamul workers beat up some of her party workers at ward number 18, 13, 11 and 6. They also ransacked a party office. At least six CPI-M workers were injured in the attacks, Mrs Seth alleged.