Siliguri model scores again, CPM holds Cong hand to win rural polls

Asok Bhattacharya with two gram panchayat winners in Matigara, on
the outskirts of Siliguri, on Wednesday. Picture by Kundan Yolmo

TT, Oct 7: The Left today won the Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad elections, continuing its victory streak in the area riding on the Siliguri model that involves forging an unofficial understanding with the Congress.

As in the Siliguri Municipal Corporation elections six months ago, mayor and CPM leader Asok Bhattacharya is being credited with the victory in the polls to the Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad (SMP), the highest layer of the three-tier rural body and the equivalent of a zilla parishad.

Not only did the Left win six of the nine seats in the SMP, it also bagged two of the four panchayat samitis, winning 31 of the 66 seats.

At the gram panchayat level too, the Left emerged victorious, pouching the highest number of seats - 187 of 462.

The Trinamul Congress failed to win a single panchayat samiti though it got 26 of the 66 seats. At the gram panchayat level, the ruling party got 156 seats.

The party had to digest the defeat of Jyoti Tirkey, the Trinamul sabhadhipati of the last SMP board.

In the 2009 polls, the Left had won the SMP polls, getting four of the seven seats. However, in 2012, defections from the Front and the Congress, which had got three seats then, gave Trinamul control of the SMP. Tirkey had switched over to Trinamul from the Left to become the sabhadhipati.

Asked about the success of the Siliguri model for the second time, which he had conceived to bring the Left and the Congress together for ground-level coordination to take on Trinamul, Bhattacharya told The Telegraph this evening: "Many people are talking about the Siliguri model. But I believe the twin victories in the municipal corporation and the SMP are not the result of the effort of any one individual. All of us, regardless of political parties, had decided to unite against the undemocratic Trinamul. That yielded results."

"Actually, we all have to take lessons from the results. Trinamul will also have to understand that it will not be able to get away with anything and everything if the Opposition stands together firmly," the Siliguri mayor added.

Before the SMP elections, the CPM and the Congress had urged people to vote for any party other than Trinamul. The CPM and the Congress had made adjustments at the gram panchayat and panchayat samiti levels. In all the four panchayat samitis, the Left and the Congress unofficially shared the seats. Similar adjustments were made in 16 of the 22 gram panchayats.

The Left has got the majority in seven gram panchayats while Trinamul has won four. The remaining 11 panchayats have thrown up hung verdicts. If the Left and the Congress reach an understanding post-poll, they will be able to cobble up the majority in six of these 11.

Of the four panchayat samitis, the Left has won in the Matigara and Kharibari rural bodies. The panchayat samitis in Naxalbari and Phansidewa have thrown up a fractured verdict.

In the 18-seat Naxalbari panchayat samiti, the Left and Trinamul have got eight seats each, while one each has gone to the Congress and an Independent. For the Left to form the board, it will have to get the support of the Congress candidate and the Independent as the magic figure is 10.

In the 21-seat Phansidewa panchayat samiti, the Left has bagged seven seats and the Congress five. Trinamul has won eight and the BJP one. Here too, a Left-Congress handholding will give the parties control of the board.

The Congress has come a poor third in the SMP elections with 61 seats at the panchayat level. There's bad news for the BJP too as the party has managed to win only 22 of the 462 gram panchayat seats.

"The Modi magic has waned. The BJP has been rejected by the people of Siliguri," a party leader said.

The results indicate that there has been an erosion in the Congress's base in Siliguri, with many party members defecting to Trinamul.

"It's clear that the Congress will have ride piggyback on the CPM to get some seats. This is an unethical alliance that had no principles. That's why Mamata Banerjee keeps saying that the Congress is the CPM's B-team," north Bengal development minister Gautam Deb said.

He said that up against a combined Opposition, Trinamul had managed to secure a "considerable chunk of votes and seats in all three tiers".