Kharagpur, June 4: Trinamul today formed the board at Kharagpur municipality by bagging 19 votes for its chairman candidate Pradip Sarkar.

The Congress had put up Rabishankar Pandey, the outgoing chairman who won this time from ward 27, but he got 15 votes. One vote was rejected.

Trinamul had expected 18 votes for the chairman candidate, but got 19 in the secret ballot.

Panchayat minister Subrata Mukherjee was present outside the Kharagpur municipality where the voting took place.

The April 25 municipal election results had thrown up a hung board for Kharagpur. Trinamul and the Congress had won 11 seats each, the BJP bagged seven and the Left six in the 35-member municipality.

Five BJP councillors and two from the CPI had defected to Trinamul, giving the party the support of 18 members it needed to win the chairman's post.

Yesterday, Calcutta High Court ordered the West Midnapore police chief to ensure adequate security to 11 Congress councillors of Kharagpur, who were in hiding, so that they could participate in the proceedings to form the board today.

The high court order was in response to a plea by four Congress councillors who had alleged threats by Trinamul activists.