Kolkata:
West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress has swept the five-phase panchayat elections, marking its dominance even in traditionally red bastions as the verdict came out today.
The Trinamool has painted almost all of rural Bengal green, including Left strongholds like Burdwan, Bankura and Purulia.
But mixed results in two districts have raised the most difficult question of all: who will ally with whom - and will it determine alliances in Delhi? In Malda and North Dinajpur, no party has got a simple majority, leaving two options for anyone to rule the zilla parishad, a Left-Congress alliance or a Trinamool-Congress tie-up for the first time since Mamata Banerjee walked out of the UPA in September last year.
In the three-tier panchayat system, the zilla parishad is what controls the district. Of the 17 districts that went to the polls, the Trinamool has won zilla parishads in 13 districts, the Left has got one (Jalpaiguri) and the Congress too, has scored one (Murshidabad). Two other districts -- Malda and North Dinajpur -- are hung.
Out of 329 panchayat samitis, Trinamool grabbed 192, the Left, 64 and the Congress 20. Independents and others got 22. Some results are still pending.
In the lowest tier, the gram panchayat, the Trinamool has won 1745 out of 3215 or a whopping 54 per cent. Its poorest showing was in the Murshidabad (8), Malda (10) and North Dinajpur (10) districts.
But the Trinamool won two north Bengal districts -- Cooch Behar and South Dinajpur -- and even gave a tough fight in Jalpaiguri which was won by the Left.
The results suggest that two and a half years of incumbency and controversies, including the Saradha chit fund scam, have by and large failed to sway the rural people's faith in the Mamata Banerjee government.
For the Left Front, which had won 13 zilla parishads in 2008, the panchayat results are a huge blow.
The Left now has a clear majority in only one zilla parishad. In two districts where it has the highest seats are hung. It missed the zilla parishad in Nadia by a whisker. The Congress put up a very poor show, winning only Murshidabad district under the leadership of Congress strongman and junior Railways Minister Adhir Choudhury.
Trinamool Congress chief and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the results were a victory for the people and democracy and a triumph for 'maa-maati-maanush. "People have voted at a difficult time of heat, rains and the ongoing Ramzan. We should respect the verdict and behave in a peaceful manner," she told reporters at the state secretariat in Kolkata.
The Opposition Left Front and the Congress however, cried foul and claimed that violence and malpractices by the Trinamool resulted in the victory of the ruling party.
"This election was rigged, tampered and manipulation during counting also took place. The results don't reflect the true voice of rural Bengal," Left Front chairman Biman Bose claimed.