Panchayat polls: BJP lags as TMC gains lost ground in Alipurduar

MP | 6 July 2023 | Alipurduar: Despite having four MLAs and an MP, the BJP seems to be lagging in the Panchayat elections in the Alipurduar district. This can be attributed to the fact that the BJP MLAs and MP have not been actively involved in grassroots campaigning for the past three years, according to Parkash Chik Barai, the District President of TMC, Alipurduar. 

Currently, all political parties are competing for control over 64 Gram Panchayats (GP), 6 Panchayat Samitis (PS), and 1 Zilla Parishad (ZP) in Alipurduar district for the upcoming Panchayat elections. With this in mind, the TMC Alipurduar unit claims that they are ahead of all parties in all seats for the Panchayat elections due to state government schemes benefiting the people of the district. 

Trinamool had been trailing in terms of votes in Alipurduar district based on the last Parliamentary and Assembly elections. However, Trinamool leaders believe that the situation has changed dramatically. 

The construction of Cha Sundari houses and various people-oriented schemes initiated by the state government, including Lakshmi Bhandar and Pathashree-Rastashree have yielded positive outcomes in the last few years. Naturally, these developments are expected to reflect positively in the elections, said a local leader. During a press conference at the TMC district party office on Thursday, TMC District President Prakash Chik Baraik stated: “In Alipurduar district, there is a population of 18 lakh with 3 lakh households. We have already visited more than 2 lakh households through the ‘Didir Doot’ programme. 

Our party workers have reached out to almost every family in the district since January. Moreover, the people of our district receive the benefits of every government scheme throughout the year.” 

“On the other hand, we have an MP who is also the Minister of State of Minority Affairs of India, John Barla. Since 2019, after his victory, people have not seen him in the field, nor have they witnessed any of his work in Parliament. In 2021, our people chose BJP candidates as their MLAs, and in this district, they got 5 MLAs. 

One of them joined the TMC, but the people of the district have not seen any of the BJP MLAs anywhere. Even now, they are seeking votes from the people. Our leader, Abhishek Banerjee, fights for the rights of the people of the district. The people are now with us, and it will be shown in the ballot on July 8.” 

Courtesy & source- Millennium Post

https://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/panchayat-polls-bjp-lags-as-tmc-gains-lost-ground-in-alipurduar-524693