A day after the much-hyped “Diamond Harbour Model,” championed by its MP Abhishek Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress national general secretary, suffered a severe jolt in the Falta repoll results, the party faced another setback on Monday when eight councillors of the 16-member Diamond Harbour Municipality submitted their resignation.

The eight accused the party leadership of denying them any authority to run the civic body despite being councillors.

The Falta repoll, where Trinamool was pushed to the fourth position with barely 3.71 per cent vote share, compared to the 89.09 vote share secured in the 2024 Lok Sabha poll, indicated the scale of the former ruling party’s erosion of grassroots grip in the Diamond Harbour belt in recent times.

The eight councillors submitted their resignation letters to Diamond Harbour sub-divisional magistrate Ayan Duttagupta.

Political observers described the development as far more than a routine municipal crisis, viewing it instead as an indication of a deeper political realignment emerging within Trinamool’s once impregnable bastion.

Confirming the development, Duttagupta said: “The resignation letters have been submitted to the district administration. The matter is being examined and further action will be taken according to legal provisions.”

The resigning councillors volleyed a series of explosive allegations against both the civic administration and sections of the police, claiming that elected public representatives had virtually “no authority in running the
municipality”.

Tamal Halder, the councillor of ward 7, attacked the much-hyped “Diamond Harbour Model”, alleging that the entire system functioned under the police control of the erstwhile state government. “For so long, a balloon was inflated in the name of the Diamond Harbour model. Now the balloon has burst,” Halder said.

“Although we were elected public representatives, we had no freedom at all. Everything was controlled by the police officers. We had to obey them,” he alleged.

The allegations were not confined to administrative interference alone. Several councillors accused a section of the police of being directly involved in alleged corruption linked to illegal pond filling, unauthorised construction activities and extortion in the Diamond Harbour region. Those who objected were "harassed and intimidated".

Amit Saha, councillor of ward 13, said the crisis reflected growing public anger against corruption within the civic system.

“Diamond Harbour Municipality has 16 wards. All were under the control of the Trinamool till now. Eight of us have decided to resign despite having nearly eight months left in our tenure,” Saha said, adding that the "scale of corruption" made it tough for them to face people.