As the filing of nomination for the civic polls in West Bengal ends, the battle is increasingly turning out to be one of Trinamool Congress (TMC) versus Trinamool Congress.
Amid the confusion of multiple lists of candidates, the party has made it clear that the list of candidates signed by senior leaders will be valid.
In Diamond Harbour, seven candidates whose names did not figure in the party list filed their nomination, while two whose names were in the official list could not do so.
It is turning out to be a problem of plenty for the TMC, and candidates who were not given ticket are either contesting as Independents or have joined some other party.
At Kamahati in North 24 Parganas, supporters of two groups of the TMC came face to face on Wednesday.One group was given ticket by the party, and another is contesting as Independents.
While the list of TMC leaders contesting as Independents is long, in some cases the leaders are switching parties just to contest civic polls. Former Chairman of Konnagar Municiplaity in Hooghly district Bappaditya Chatterjee, who had represented the State’s ruling party, joined the Congress after being denied ticket.
TMC rebels have joined the Congress in Ashoknagar Municipality. Interestingly, the rebels from the State’s ruling party are not joining the BJP but either contesting as Independents or switching to the Congress.
No contest
The State’s ruling party on Thursday won Dinhata municipality in State’s Cooch Behar district. Of the 16 wards of the civic body, the Opposition has not been able to file nomination in 13 wards, giving a majority to the TMC even before a single vote was cast.
Earlier on Wednesday, the party won Sainthia municipality in Birbhum and Budge Budge in South 24 Parganas as the Opposition could not put up candidates in a majority of wards. At Dinhata, the BJP withdrew three candidates, alleging intimidation.
TMC MLA from Dinhata Udayan Guha, who gave the slogan Duare Prahar (beating at doorstep), said that not a single person suffered injuries in any kind of violence.
In a related development, the Calcutta High Court on Thursday said that the West Bengal State Election Commission would take a call on security for civic polls at Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation. The BJP leadership had approached the court seeking deployment of Central forces at Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation.
Election to four municipal corporations at Bidhannagar, Asansol, Siliguri and Chandernagore will be held on February 12. Elections to 108 municipalities across 20 districts will be held on February 27. During the day, State BJP leadership held protests outside the office of West Bengal State Election Commission in Kolkata alleging threats and intimidation of candidates.
