Stray incidents in Bellwether polls

Countdown for results starts

West Bengal has entered into a crucial political stage as people of 81 municipalities including Kolkata Municipal Corporation cast their vote today. The otherwise innocuous municipal elections have acquired political significance in the context of the assembly election which is scheduled next year.

The outcome of this poll might give an inkling of the political undercurrent. In the last general elections in May 2009, the Left got a serious drubbing at the hands of the combined opposition of the TMC and the Congress indicating a major political shift taking place in the state where the Left has been in power since 1977. There are indications that this time the Left is in for a serious drubbing at the hands of the TMC, wherein the Left is likely to lose a good number of municipalities including Kolkata and Bidhannagar. Despite apprehensions by both the ruling CPI(M) and the opposition TMC, today’s poll was by and large peaceful. There were reports of clashes in some areas between the supporters of the political parties but the prompt intervention by police and paramilitary forces did not allow the situation to get out of hands.

According to the state election commission, 70 per cent voters have cast their votes today in the municipal election. Mukul Roy, the TMC leader, has expressed satisfaction over the high rate of turn-out. Biman Bose, the chairman of the Left Front, has called off his scheduled post-poll press meet. Instead, the Left has decided to issue a press statement later.

In the last year’s Lok Sabha election, the CPI(M)-led Left Front got only 15 out 42 seats. Its vote share gone down to 43 per cent compared to the 50 per cent it had secured in 2006 assembly elections.

After that the Left’s vote share got further depleted in the subsequent bye elections of 10 assembly seats and election in 19 municipalities indicating a steady erosion of its vote bank. The result of today's election, which will be declared on June 2, is important on three counts. First, it will indicate whether the ruling Left has been able to reverse the downward trend.

Also, it will be an acid test for the Congress as unlike the Lok Sabha election, this time they did not enter into an electoral alliance with the TMC. The outcome is crucial for them as it would be the determining factor in the time of next year's assembly election.

Mamata Banerjee for her part has decided to go alone to consolidate the entire anti-Left vote under her wings which would give better bargaining point with the Congress during next year’s assembly polls.