Allegations of violence

“Chief minister Mamata Banerjee does not want to leave any space for the opposition, something the Marxists successfully tried during their 34-year-long regime,” Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar, who took charge four months ago, said after the debacle, referring to the violence reported during the December 19 polling.

Among the incidents of violence on polling day, three people were injured in a crude bomb explosion, violence in at least two polling booths and at least a dozen sporadic clashes that led to more than 70 arrests. Five candidates, including one from the TMC, were injured.

Even as the chief minister dubbed the polls as peaceful and her followers referred to the clashes as “isolated incidents,” the BJP and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) have moved separate petitions before the Calcutta high court alleging state-sponsored violence and rigging.

“These numbers do not reflect people’s mandate because the polls were neither free nor fair,” said Left Front chairman Biman Bose.

Against this backdrop, Mamata Banerjee has selected her trusted aide, cabinet minister Firhad Hakim, as Kolkata’s mayor for the second consecutive term and placed before her new KMC team a long “do-it-now” list of projects for the 331-year-old city.

The KMC election should not be seen in isolation, say top TMC leaders, arguing that such an absolute majority does not necessarily create a comfort zone but thrusts a burden of responsibility upon the dispensation.

Meanwhile, the state election commission said on December 23 that civic body elections in the major towns of Siliguri, Howrah, Salt Lake, Asansol and Chandannagar will be held in January.

Challenges for the TMC

Ever since it was dragged to court by the opposition for the violence Bengal witnessed during the 2018 panchayat polls, the TMC has been under pressure to ensure that polls held under the watch of the state election commission are not questioned. This became a political necessity especially after the BJP bagged 18 of Bengal’s 42 Lok Sabha seats in 2019.

The TMC had won most corporation and municipal elections in 2015. The terms of the elected boards ended over the last two years, but elections were not held because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The state government appointed the elected heads of civic boards as administrators as a stop-gap measure. Hakim, who was mayor of Kolkata, was made head of the KMC administrative board.

Even as the TMC constantly made accusations that the BJP was using central agencies to its advantage, on March 17, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested ministers Subrata Mukherjee (who died recently), Hakim, and former TMC leader Sovan Chatterjee in the Narada sting operation case. All three had served as mayors of Kolkata.

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“While many might have speculated that this time around Banerjee might choose a new face, she followed her instincts and selected Hakim. This sent a strong message to the people and the opposition that the TMC is convinced about the innocence of leaders the CBI is after,” said a top TMC leader who did not want to be named.

“But at the same time, she also made it public that Hakim and his team have to deliver and file a report on their performance twice a year. As promised in the manifesto, the government has ambitious plans for Kolkata, involving everything from environment to amenities. Citizens of the state capital will expect us to deliver. We had won the KMC polls in 2000 despite the Left being in power because the CPI(M) was a poor achiever,” the TMC leader added.

A second TMC leader, who is a senior legislator, said: “In politics, there is always a flip side. The KMC poll results may make our workers in the remaining 22 districts overenthusiastic. They may try to set bigger examples and overstep their limits. We have to be careful.”

The TMC supremo also projected her victory as one which had a broad political message. “The BJP and Left have been wiped out by the people of Kolkata. The Congress has been sandwiched between these two losers. This reflects on national politics. I firmly believe that Bengal and Kolkata will show the path to the people of India,” said Banerjee, who is planning to make electoral inroads in other states in a bid to replace the Congress as the nation’s biggest opposition party.

The growing task before the BJP

In the assembly elections, the TMC’s vote share in Kolkata was around 57%. This increased to 72% in the KMC polls.

The BJP, meanwhile, contested all 144 KMC seats, but 116 of their candidates forfeited their election deposits. The party’s vote share in Kolkata dipped to 8.9%, marking a fall by around 20% since the assembly polls.

Some TMC candidates won by record margins like minister Javed Ahmed Khan’s son Faiz Ahmed Khan who won by more than 60,000 votes. More than 20 TMC candidates secured 80% or more votes polled in their respective wards. “Are such results at all possible if polls are free and fair?” asked BJP state president Majumdar.

An explanation of sorts, however, came from former BJP state president and current national vice-president Dilip Ghosh. “The BJP did not win any Lok Sabha or assembly seat in Kolkata. So, it was not easy to win the KMC polls. We will do much better in the districts,” he said.

BJP leaders, however, admitted that their central leadership in Delhi is unhappy with the back-to-back failures of the state unit and wants results in the district municipal polls. BJP national general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh held a meeting with Majumdar and BJP state general secretary (organisation) Amitava Chakraborty in Delhi on December 23, and within 12 hours, the Bengal unit formed an election committee for the rest of the districts.

“The central leadership has said we must capture some civic bodies in the districts where we are in control of Lok Sabha and assembly seats,” said a state BJP leader.

Some breather for the Marxists

As far as the CPI(M) is concerned, the party was virtually obliterated in the assembly polls, with many voters shifting to the BJP. This time though, despite the low numbers, there is some solace in a sense of growth, with the party managing to recover some ground in the KMC polls, coming second in 65 seats.

The CPI(M)’s vote share in the city, which was 7.7% in the March-April assembly polls, rose to 11.7% despite the fact that 97 candidates forfeited their deposits.

The party alleged that this made it a target and several party offices were forcefully captured by TMC workers. The saffron camp, however, quickly dismissed the allegation, calling it part of a “drama” orchestrated by the TMC and the Marxists to corner the BJP. “Our vote share has increased because people want neither the TMC nor the BJP. Had the polls been fair, we would have won more seats,” said CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty.

His claims, however, did not quite explain why only two senior Left leaders could win while all the 40-odd young candidates, who came in focus during the Covid-19 lockdown for taking part in relief work as part of the Red Volunteers group, lost.