The state government’s recent announcement of an interim hike in the wages of tea workers and salaries of the staff and sub-staff in the brew belt, coupled with social welfare schemes by the Mamata Banerjee government, led to Trinamul’s decisive win at the three-tier polls of Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad (SMP), political analysts opined here on Wednesday.
“There are 47 tea estates in rural Siliguri and votes of the tea population have always played a key role. It is evident from today’s results that the state’s announcement for an interim pay hike for the workforce of the tea sector helped Trinamul,” said a party leader.
He said that over the past couple of years, particularly after the tenure of the last Left board of SMP ended in 2020, efforts by block officials and party leaders to provide benefits of social welfare schemes to people helped Trinamul.
“We also consider this a peoples’ mandate against the divisive policies of the BJP,” the leader added.
At the last year’s Assembly polls, the BJP had won both Matigara-Naxalbari and Phansidewa, two Assembly seats which cover the SMP area.
Wednesday’s results show a clear swing of votes from the BJP to Trinamul, from the panchayat level till the upper tier of the SMP. For instance, state election commission data shows Trinamul bagged 47.64 per cent votes and the BJP 27.36 per cent at panchayats, that is the lowest tier.
In the panchayat samiti — the middle tier — Trinamul got 45.44 per cent and the BJP 30.06 per cent.
In the upper tier, Trinamul managed 47.14 per cent votes. BJP’s share was 30.43 per cent.
Political observers pointed out that the trend of votes switching from the BJP to Trinamul was witnessed at the Siliguri civic polls held earlier this year.
In a number of municipal areas of north Bengal, including Siliguri, the BJP won the Assembly elections and had got the lead in most wards, but at the civic polls, Trinamul bagged all the municipalities.
The Left and Congress came up with a dull performance, winning 15 and 21 seats respectively in panchayats. Not a single seat went to these parties in the two upper tiers.
However, as compared to last year’s Assembly election, when they had joined hands, they have a marginal increase in vote share.
