Ajoy Edwards' Hamro Party wins Darjeeling municipal elections

|HT|

The Hamro Party, launched 3 months ago by Ajoy Edwards, owner of Glenary’s, the oldest bakery and restaurant in Darjeeling, won the town’s municipal elections on Wednesday, defeating old outfits that fought for decades for the creation of Gorkhaland. Springing the biggest surprise of the polls held at Bengal’s 108 civic bodies on February 27, the Hamro Party bagged 18 of the 32 seats at Darjeeling municipality although Edwards lost by 5 votes from civic ward No 22 from where he contested.

Edwards was defeated by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) that helped the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) win the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat thrice in a row since 2009. The BJP wrested the Darjeeling and adjoining Kurseong assembly seats last year in alliance with local parties but could not win a single municipal seat on Wednesday. It contested as an ally of the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF).

Although the Trinamool Congress (TMC) swept the polls in the rest of Bengal, winning 102 of the 108 civic bodies, it secured only 2 seats in Darjeeling, the state’s oldest hill station set up by the British. In the last civic polls held in 2017, TMC had bagged only one seat. Appearing unaffected by his personal defeat, Edwards said he means business.

“I will have a zero-tolerance policy in regard to corruption and work hard to bring back the lost glory of Darjeeling,” he said.

Darjeeling residents and political observers said it was Edward’s image that helped his party win. The father of five children has been a social worker for decades, running the Edwards Foundation which helps people in distress.

Edwards is known to be a friend of Mann Ghisingh, president of the GNLF that launched the violent Gorkhaland movement in 1986 led by Mann’s father Subash Ghisingh.

Edwards had joined the GNLF but left it following differences with Mann Ghisingh during the assembly elections last year. Edwards was accused of betraying the GNLF for his own ambitions. He formed the Hamro Party 3 months ago. “Our victory proves that people of Darjeeling desperately needed a sincere force to lead the civic board,” Edwards said amid speculations on who would be the new municipality chairman.

Led by Bimal Gurung, the GJM had an electoral understanding with the TMC and won 3 seats although it bagged 31 in 2017.

The Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) led by Anit Thapa won 9 seats. Thapa is a political ally of the TMC.

In Kolkata, chief minister Mamata Banerjee described the parties in Darjeeling as “friendly.”

“Our friendly parties have won in Darjeeling. We will soon hold polls at the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) which is overdue. We were waiting for the election process to start in Darjeeling. The panchayat polls have to be held as well,” said Banerjee. “There is an urgent need to hold panchayat and GTA elections in Darjeeling and Kalimpong hills,” said Edwards.

Panchayat polls in the hills were last held in 2000 and the GTA elections have been due since 2017.

The elections for Mirik, Kurseong and Kalimpong municipalities are likely to be held in May this year. Hamro Party will fight these elections, Edwards said.

Thapa and Gurung said they will offer support to the new civic board in Darjeeling.

Binoy Tamang, a senior TMC leader, said, “The state government will extend full support to the new board.”

(Except for the headline and the pictorial description, this story has not been edited by THE DEN staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)