TMC-backed party leaves rivals high and dry in Darjeeling, Kalimpong

AGENCIES, KOLKATA, 15 JULY 20023 :  Despite not leaving any mark in the two hill districts of Darjeeling and Kalimpong, the ruling Trinamool Congress has reasons to cheer osier the results of the panchayat polls in these two districts. Unlike the remaining districts, polls were conducted for only two tiers of gram panchayat and panchayat samiti. 

As the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) is in overall charge of the civic administration in the hills, there were no polls at the zilla parishad level, which is the highest tier in the three-tier panchayat system. 

The Anit Thapa- led Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM), with outside support from the Trinamool Congress was on one side. An eight party alliance led by the BJP and including the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, Hamro Party, Gorkha National Liberation Front, Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists, Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League, Sumeti Mukti Morcha and Gorkhaland Rajya Nirman Party was the principal contender on the other side. 

After the results became clear on Wednesday afternoon, the BGPM was way ahead of the eight-party alliance in both the tiers in both these hills district. Of the 70 gram panchayats in Darjeeling, as many as 38 had gone to the BGPM, 14 to Independents and three to the BJP. 

The situation is hung in the remaining 15 gram panchayats. In case of panchayat samitis in the same district, the BGPM has bagged four out of five, while one panchayat samiti has a hung verdict. 

In the case of Kalimpong district, 29 out of 42 village panchayats has gone to the BGPM. While the BJP has ended with two, eight have gone to Independents. In the panchayat samitis in the same district, the BGPM has bagged two out of four while the remaining two panchayat samitis have gone to Independent candidates. 

Elated by the results, BGPM chief Anit Thapa, who is also the chief executive of the GTA, said that he is extremely happy that the panchayati raj system has returned to the hills in a democratic manner. 

"There was not a single incident of poll- related violence in the hills this time. Now our only aim is development of the hills. Since the election results the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha supremo Bimal Gurung, who was once the final word in the hills, is incommunicado from the media. Even his party's general secretary Roshan Giri did not field questions from the media." 

Accepting defeat, a BJP Lok Sabha member said that their elected members in the two tiers in the hills will work for the development of the people. Senior observers of the hill politics feel that the results in the two tiers are a warning to the BJP for the 2024 big battle in the case of the Darjeeling Lok Sabha constituency, from where the saffron camp candidates have been elected to Parliament since 2009. 

While the Trinamool Congress- BGPM alliance has worked wonders for the duo in the rural civic body polls, the BJP's attempts by forging an understanding with the seven hill parties has not yielded results. It is also evident that Bimal Gutting is not in a position to mobilize the hill voters.