|HT|
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee thanked the people on Tuesday as the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) was headed for a landslide victory in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) elections held on Sunday amid allegations of violence and rigging in some areas. Around Tuesday noon, the TMC was leading in 130 out of 144 wards. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was ahead in the five wards that it controlled earlier and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI (M) in two.
“This is people’s victory. We are grateful to the people of Bengal. We will work more for the people and be humbler. We are proud of Kolkata and Bengal. BJP, Congress, and CPI(M) have been defeated by the people. This mandate will help us work for development and for the people,” Banerjee said.
The trend was not unexpected, said TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh. “Neither the BJP nor the Left parties have any support base in Kolkata.”
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