The Didi Supremacy

As expected, the ruling Trinamool Congress has swept the three-tier panchayat polls in West Bengal and reestablished its dominance over Opposition parties.

- Romita Datta

On July 8, over 200,000 candidates competed for 73,887 seats in 3,317 gram panchayats, 341 panchayat samitis and 20 zilla parishads. Out of 63,229 gram panchayat seats, the TMC has so far won 34,901-nearly double the combined tally of around 17,000 seats won by the BJP, Left, Congress and independent candidates. The principal Opposition BJP came a distant second with 9719 seats. The Left and the Congress, who have an understanding in Bengal, won around 5,600 seats. In the contest for the 9,730 panchayat samiti and 928 zilla parishad seats too, the TMC's winning streak was formidable. Per the latest State Election Commission report, its vote share is 52 percent, still massive even if down by four percentage points from the 2018 panchayat polls. The BJP got 22.6 percent, up by three percentage points and the Left and Congress held on to their 18 percent share. The BJP has fared poorly in its north Bengal strongholds like Alipurduar, Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri. In the tribal districts of Bankura, Jhargram, Purulia and West Midnapore, the TMC routed it, winning over 90 percent of seats. In 2019, the BJP had won seven out of eight Lok Sabha seats in the north and five out of six seats in the tribal belt. Leader of the Opposition, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, put on a brave face, downplaying the verdict. "It is not a reflection of the people's mandate. Nobody in Delhi is interested in the results as free and fair elections didn't happen," he said.

Even so, Mamata's sway among the rural majority clearly holds because of her social welfare schemes, especially Lakshmir Bhandar, the monthly allowance for women. Loss of jobs caused by the Centre's withholding MNREGA funds have also hurt the BJP. But, mostly, voters were apprehensive of losing out on state benefits if there was a change of guard at the grassroots level.