Left loses footing in North 24-Pgns

KOLKATA: The Ma-Mati-Manush wave swept through the municipalities of North 24-Parganas, unseating the Left Front from 17 of the 20 municipalities over which it held sway.
After the 2005 elections, the Left Front had formed the boards of 20 of the 21 municipalities in the district that went to polls on Sunday. Only the Bongaon Municipality was with the opposition.Five years on, the Left has not only been routed in the minority-dominated areas of Basirhat and Barasat, it has also lost in the jute belt, considered to be its traditional stronghold.
The only three civic bodies the Left retained were Halisahar, North Dum Dum and Kamarhati. Even in the municipalities where no party got an absolute majority, the Left may not have much role to play. District Congress leaders said they would help the Trinamool Congress form boards wherever possible.
One of the most startling results came from the 141-year-old Barasat Municipality. This civic body had been with the Left Front for the last 34 years. This time, the Trinamool bagged 16 of the 32 wards with the Left managing only 13.
The Left has also lost its hold on the Barrackpore Municipality. The Trinamool has won 14 seats, the CPM six and the Congress four. In 2005, the Left had comfortably won all 24 seats.
At Naihati, where no opposition was supposed to have existed till 2005 when the Left won all 28 seats, its tally has fallen to a meagre seven. The Trinamool has clinched the board with 23 seats while the Congress has managed one (the number of wards has gone up from 28 to 31).
Another CPM stronghold where the Left has stumbled is Khardah and New Barrackpore. In the 2006 assembly elections, state finance minister Asim Dasgupta had won from Khardah after polling a record 56.58% of the total number of votes. In the civic polls, the Trinamool has bagged 12 seats and the CPM eight. This is being considered a great blow.
The Trinamool is not happy with the results though. Leaders believe the party would have done far better had the candidates been selected more judiciously. MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar had got a 60,000-vote lead from Barasat in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls. In the civic polls, thanks to the selection procedure, many disgruntled leaders filed nominations as independents. This led to an erosion in the number of Trinamool votes. One such dissident is Samir Chatterjee who won from Ward 30 by a narrow margin. The CPM just about managed to hold on to its strongholds in North Dum Dum, Kamarhati and Halisahar.
The Left has, however, lost at Ashoknagar Kalyangarh, once known as its stronghold. Of the 22 seats here, the Trinamool has won 20. The Left has also fallen off its perch at Gobordanga. Of the 17 seats, the Trinamool has won 11 and the Congress five.
The Congress has done well in places like Basirhat and Baduria. Leaders claimed that minority voters had selected the Congress over the CPM or the Trinamool.
Trinamool candidates who won from the district said they did not take up complex issues but approached voters with hands folded. "They had been let down by the Left and asked us to perform," said Ranjana Biswas, who won on a Trinamool ticket from Barasat.
"This result was unexpected, particularly in the Barrackpore industrial area. In the last Assembly elections, our candidates got nearly 45% votes from here. We think the voters were misled this time. We shall prepare a detailed report," said Amitava Basu, CPM district secretary.
Trinamool leader and MLA Jyotipriya Mullick felt his party's show in the district could have been better. "We could have done better in Barasat and Bongaon. The selection of candidates could be a factor. I will report the matter to Mamata Banerjee," he said.