This is the fourth consecutive victory of Left Front in Howrah civic polls. Out of the 50 seats in this municipality, Left Front has won in 35 and Congress(I) has won in 12 of them. Trinamul has won in only 2 seats. It is Trinamul who are in alliance with BJP in the state. BJP has won in 1 of the seats. The left has wrested 3 additional seats from its opponents this time. While Trinamul has wrested the 2 seats from Congress(I), it is the first time that BJP has gained a seat in this municipality. The Left Front has wrested 5 seats from sitting opponents, but has lost 2 of its sitting seats. CPI(M) has won in 4 of the 5 gained seats while Forward Block has won in 1. The tally of the parties indicate the following.

HOWRAH POLLS

CPI(M) 26
CPI 3
FB 3
RSP 1
CPI 1
JANATA DAL 1
LEFT FRONT 35
CONGRESS(I) 12
TRINAMUL CONG. 2
BJP 1

Electoral analysis reveals that Congress(I) has been able to reestablish their position in Central Howrah after getting defeated by Trinamul in the Howrah Lok Sabha polls. Left Front has also faired better this time in North and South Howrah. The sitting Mayor, Swadesh Chakravarty, sitting Deputy Mayor, Dilip Sen and sitting chairman, Subhransu Bhattacharyay of the municipality have all won massively. Left Front had set up an example in the country by fielding women candidates in half of the seats in the municipality. While the women’s reservation bill still awaiting approval, this has been example that it is the Left again who believe in women empowerment. 16 women candidates have won the polls as Left Front candidates. It is a woman again who has won with a maximum lead in the municipality. She is Jharna Das of CPI(M) who has won with a lead of 11,7000 votes.

Polling rate in Howrah was 65% to 70%. The polling was throughout peaceful, although Mamata Bannerjee of Trinamul alleged rigging. The allegation may be in response to the expected defeat. Trinamul in desparation had also tried to disrupt the smooth polling process by hurling bombs, capturing booths and ransacking CPI(M) offices in the locality. But they could not intervene in the smooth democratic process.

Congress(I) has won in all the seats of Baharampur municipal polls in the district of Murshidabad and no party has gained majority in Krishnanagar municipal polls in the district of Nadia. These two municipalities were earlier won by Congress(I). Byelections were held in 2 wards with one each in the municipalities of Bally in the district of Howrah and Barackpore in the district of North 24-Parganas. CPI(M) has won in both of the seats.

On the basis of population, Krishnanagar municipality has now been reconstituted in 24 wards, where there were 29 wards in the earlier polls. Due to death of one candidate elections were held in 23 of them. This municipality was in the hands of Congress(I) till 1981. Congress(I) had won in 26 of the 29 wards in the preceding polls. But the hung municipality definitely indicates that the position of Congress(I) has been worse from the earlier polls while that of the Left has improved.The results of the earlier polls indicate that CPI(M) had won in only 2 and Samajbadi Party had won in 1 of the seats. But this time out of 23 wards where elections were held CPI(M) has won in 4 and Left Front supported Krishnanagar Nagarik Samity has won in 2 of the seats. The division of the seats between the political parties follows below.

KRISHNANAGAR POLLS

CONGRESS(I) 11
CPI(M) 4
KRISH. NAG. COMMITTEE 2
SP 2
TRINAMUL CONGRESS 1
BJP 1
INDEPENDENT 2

Congress(I) retained its stronghold in Baharampur municipality for the fourth consecutive term. CPI(M) did not contest in 10 of the wards. Electoral analysis shows that CPI(M) led Left Front occupied the second position in terms of the strength of the votes polled in 21 of the seats, thus clearly reducing the weightage of Trinamul-BJP alliance.