Siliguri, Oct. 5: Left Front, 36; Opposition, 11.

Status quo was maintained in the Siliguri Municipal Corporation with the CPM-led front romping home yet again. But the celebrations were muted as the party had claimed all through the campaign that it would win at least 40 of the 47 wards.

Worse, there were two major setbacks. In ward 12, Nantoo Pal, who switched from the CPM to the Trinamul Congress and then to the Congress, defeated outgoing deputy mayor Harisadhan Ghosh by 26 votes in what was billed as a clash of the titans. Ghosh had represented the ward for 15 years till 1999 when he shifted to ward 11 and won from there.

The biggest blow, however, was in ward 37, where the BJP made its maiden entry into the corporation. Arun Prasad Sarkar trounced the CPM?s sitting councillor, Nikhil Das, in the ward that was one of two where Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had campaigned.

The chief minister?s campaign does not appear to have made much impact as the CPM did not win ward 17 either, which Trinamul retained.

The CPM sought to put up a brave face and pointed out that in at least six wards, the winning margin of Left candidates had increased.

?The verdict proves that the people of Siliguri are with us. The winning margin of our candidates has gone up.... In 1999, we had won some seats with slender margins,? minister and Siliguri MLA Asok Bhattacharya said at the CPM office on Hill Cart Road.

However, he also admitted that the BJP?s victory was a setback. ?That the BJP has won a seat is an ominous sign,? he said.

Sarkar was all praise for the electorate. ?The love of the people has brought me here. I will work hard to meet their expectations. Drinking water and drainage will be my priority,? the BJP leader said.

The Congress had little to cheer despite Pal?s unlikely victory. His wife Manjushree was defeated in ward 11 by the CPM?s Uma Goyal, ironically by 26 votes.

A sullen Shankar Malakar, the Congress district president, left the counting centre long before the results were announced.