The verdict of the West Bengal civic polls is loud and clear. The semi-final goes to Mamata Banerjee.
Mamta Banerjee's Trinamool Congress (TMC) swept the Kolkata civic polls, winning 95 of the 141 seats. That's a gain of 53 seats for the TMC in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.
Mamata's win was celebrated all across West Bengal where people came out on the streets to show their support to her.The jubiliant party workers danced and played with colour on the streets of Kolkata.
Outside Kolkata too, the TMC surged ahead of the CPM. The battle for 81 municipalities is the semi-final for the state elections next year. Banerjee's clean sweep of Kolkata led to her party demanding that those elections be brought forward.
Banerjee's performance gives her room to exert even more power in her relationship with the Congress, her ally at the Centre and rival in West Bengal.
The thrilled Trinamool candidates celebrated their win passionately.
The decision of the Congress to fight the civic elections without any understanding with the TMC has not paid off and team Banerjee underscored after its big gains today.
Banerjee now has a powerful position and will be capable to call the shots for any alliance with the Congress for next year's state elections.
Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee congratulated Mamata Banerjee and accepted Congress's defeat.He accepted the party's failure in meeting the expectations of the people.
After Trinamool Congress swept the Kolkata civic polls, the Left accepted the people's verdict, but insisted that there was some improvement since the debacle last year.
Mamata Banerjee's clean sweep of Kolkata led to her party demanding that Assembly elections be brought forward. But Nilotpal Basu of the CPI (M) told NDTV that early elections are not needed.
