BGPM on way to comfortable majority in hill rural polls

EOI, DARJEELING, JULY 11, 2023:  The Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha is well on its course for a comfortable victory in the panchayat election and set to form the Gram Panchayat and Panchayat Samiti boards.

Official figures trickled in at a snail's pace. Till the evening, of the 70 gram panchayats in the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration area of the Darjeeling district, the BGPM was set to win 20. After 23 years, the rural population in the hills voted in the panchayat election on July 8.

BGPM president, Anit Thapa termed the victory as people's win. "I am satisfied to see the people happy and jubilant. We have managed to re-establish the panchayati raj after such a longtime. People have voted for peace and development," he said while celebrating with party supporters in the Kurseong block.

Thapa said restoring the panchayat system would bring in additional development. "Now we will have an additional system in place that will usher in more development in the region. I urge the winning candidates to work for the welfare of the people," he said.

The BGPM is the predominant political party in the hills, helming the GTA and municipalities. As results of the counting were announced by the election authorities, smelling a sure victory, BGPM supporters started smearing each other and the winning candidates with vermilion and singing and dancing in Kurseong.

For the panchayat election, the BJP is in alliance with the Gorkha National Liberation Front, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists, the CPI (M), Hamro Party and Gorkha Rastriya Nirman Morcha. 

However, other than the BJP, alliance partners have fielded candidates as independents. GJM president Bimal Gurung said the panchayat system would help curb corruption in the rural level. 

"The voting and counting was peaceful. It is good to see political parties accepting the results. We have to be happy that the panchayat system has been restored," he said.

Unlike in other districts of West Bengal, the hills of Darjeeling and Kalimpong have voted only for the gram panchayat and the panchayat samiti election. The zilla parishad has been replaced by the GTA. The GTA though has provisions for a three tier panchayat system. The last gram panchayat election under the erstwhile Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council was held in 2000. 

There are 112 gram panchayats and 9 panchayat samities in the hills. Darjeeling has 70 gram panchayats and 5 panchayat samities while Kalimpong has 42 gram panchayats and four panchayat samities.