Calcutta, Jun 5 (PTI): The Trinamul Congress on Tuesday 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.
Trinamul won in Left citadel Dhupguri, Panskura and Nalhati and was leading in the industrial township in Durgapur, officials said.
But Trinamul 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 Trinamul 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 Trinamul 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 United Progressive Alliance or UPA government and the state government here--Trinamul Congress and the Congress--turned bitter rivals in municipal polls and fought separately for the first time after last year's Assembly polls.
A Trinamul wave had swept across Haldia in 2009 parliamentary elections and had taken away the seat of the now jailed CPI(M) leader Lakshman Seth from there. TMC had also won the assembly polls in Haldia last year.
It was left to Kamalika Panda Seth, chairman of Haldia Municipality, to steer the party's campaign in the absence of her husband who is now behind bars in connection with a 2007 Nandigram case.
In Dhupguri, which was regarded a strong base of the Left Front parties, Trinamul swept the polls this time by winning 11 seats.
In the rural belt of Panskura, Trinamul bagged 12 seats while the Left got five but neither Congress nor Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) could manage a single seat.
In Nalhati, out of 15 seats, Trinamul won in eight while Congress and Left Front got three each and BJP managed one.
Nalhati had generated keen interest because the Congress campaign was led by local legislator Abhijit Mukherjee, son of Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
The Cooper's Camp civic body saw Congress winning with 11 seats while Trinamul could manage only one. The Left Front failed to open its account.
In Durgapur, Trinamul was on strong ground having bagged 23 seats out of 43 seats.
In 2007, the Left Front had won in three of the six civic bodies. The Congress won two while Congress-Trinamul alliance had bagged one.
