Panchayat polls: Emerged victorious in 90% seats, claims Mamata Banerjee

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday claimed that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has emerged victorious in 90 percentage seats in West Bengal panchayat elections, the counting for which began today.

Banerjee said, "The TMC has emerged victorious in 90 percentage seats despite the opposition parties coming together. This shows how strong we are at the grassroots level."

According to panchayat elections results available till 2 pm today, the TMC reinforced its dominant position in rural West Bengal's local bodies, bagging 9,270 seats in gram panchayats, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged as the main challenger to the ruling party in most districts.

The voting took place on May 14 for 621 zilla parishads, over six thousand panchayat samitis, and nearly 31 thousand gram panchayats.

The state witnessed huge-scale clashes between the BJP and the TMC workers, resulting in the death of at least 12 people.