TMC ally BGPM sweeps gram panchayats in Darjeeling, Kalimpong
The party, which is an ally of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the hilly regions of north Bengal, bagged 349 out of 598 gram panchayat seats in Darjeeling. In Kalimpong, out of 281 seats in 42 gram panchayats, BGPM won 168 seats in at least 30 gram panchayats
The Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) has bagged more than 65% of seats in 112 gram panchayats and six of nine panchayat samitis in Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts where polls were held on July 8. The final results were announced in the early hours of Thursday.
The party, which is an ally of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the hilly regions of north Bengal, bagged 349 out of 598 gram panchayat seats in Darjeeling. In Kalimpong, out of 281 seats in 42 gram panchayats, BGPM won 168 seats in at least 30 gram panchayats.
The region comes under the jurisdiction of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) that BGPM currently controls led by Anit Thapa, who is also the chief executive of GTA.
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Speaking after the results on Thursday, Thapa said, “BGPM emerged victorious despite all efforts by opposition parties to hoodwink the Gorkhas. This is BGPM’s second impressive victory after last year’s GTA election. The hill people have understood that development is of prime importance. They know BJP makes only false promises.”
Darjeeling and Kalimpong have a two-tier panchayat system comprising gram panchayats and panchayat samitis. These districts do not have zilla parishads.
Surprising all parties, independent candidates bagged 185 of 598 gram panchayat seats in the 70 panchayats in Darjeeling district and 82 of 281 gram panchayat seats in the 42 panchayats in Kalimpong district.
Though the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was part of the United Gorkha Alliance (UGA) formed prior to the polls, it could win only 59 seats in Darjeeling and may form boards in only five panchayats.
The elections were conducted in a very peaceful manner unlike in the rest of Bengal, where 47 people have died so far in political clashes between June 9 and July 12.
Panchayat elections in the GTA area were held after 23 years. The last elections held here were in 2000 but only for gram panchayats which represent the lower tier. The July 8 polls included panchayat samitis as well.
BGPM, which won the GTA election in June 2022, was challenged by UGA formed by BJP, the Bimal Gurung-led Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, Ajoy Edwards-led Hamro Party, the Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists, the All India Gorkha League and some local outfits.
The BGPM’s victory was significant in the panchayat samitis of Darjeeling as well where it swept four of the five panchayat samitis while UGA could only manage to win one.
The BGPM, however, suffered a setback in the panchayat samitis of Kalimpong district where it only won two seats while independent candidates pulled two.
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The BJP won 29 seats and may form boards in three gram panchayats whereas the independent candidates, who won 82 seats, are likely to form boards in at least seven gram panchayats in Kalimpong.
The TMC, which contested less than 5% of seats in the hills, won five gram panchayat seats.
BJP Lok Sabha member from Darjeeling Raju Bista who led the UGA campaign from the front, however, said that the victory of so many independent candidates has proved that hill people are fed up with BGPM.
The UGA had raised allegations of corruption against BGPM before the polls, making it their main issue while Thapa’s party focused on the aspirations of the local people.
Countering this, Thapa said, “If the hill parties enjoyed the confidence of voters, they would not have gone to BJP to seek an alliance.”
Meanwhile, political experts feel that the independent candidates may not be able to run the panchayats for long.
“Though they are in a position to form boards in many gram panchayats it remains to be seen how long they can stay united against the political parties,” said Ashis Chettri, a professor from North Bengal University.
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