Trinamool bags 3 civic bodies, LF, Congress get 1 each

Won in Left citadel Dhupguri, Panskura & Nalhati, leading in Durgapur

In the first major test of popularity, Trinamool Congress today won the elections to three civic bodies and was leading in another while Congress and Left Front major CPI(M) bagged one each in West Bengal.

The polls to six civic bodies were the first major local elections after the 2011 Assembly polls when Mamata Banerjee's party had stormed to power ending the Left Front's 34-year rule.

Trinamool won in Left citadel Dhupguri, Panskura and Nalhati and was leading in the industrial township in Durgapur, officials said.

But Trinamool suffered a setback in the municipality of Haldia, a key industrial town, where the Left Front captured 15 out of 26 wards. The remaining 11 seats went to Banerjee's party, they said.

The Cooper's Camp civic body saw Congress winning with 11 seats while the Trinamool could manage only one while the Left failed to open its account.

All 129 seats in the six civic bodies spread over five districts witnessed triangular contests with the main contestants being from Trinamool Congress, Congress and CPI(M)-led Left Front.

The six civic bodies were--Durgapur Municipal Corporation in the Burdwan district, and municipalities of Panskura and Haldia in East Midnapore, Dhupguri in Jalpaiguri, Cooper's Camp in Nadia and Nalhati in Birbhum district.

The allies in the UPA government and the state government here, Trinamool Congress and the Congress, turned bitter rivals in municipal polls and fought separately for the first time after last year's Assembly polls.