Newly Formed Hamro Party Sweeps Civic Body Polls In Darjeeling

In the municipal polls in West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) won 102 of the 108 civic bodies. The CPI(M) won the Taherpur municipality, and the newly launched Hamro Party won in Darjeeling.

The ruling TMC previously emerged victorious in all civic bodies in recent elections, including the high-profile Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC).

Nevertheless, the electoral turf proved to be different in the Darjeeling. New entrant Hamro Party won 18 out of 32 seats in the Darjeeling Municipality.

Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) won nine seats, TMC won two and Bimal Gurung’s Gorkha Janmukti Morch won three in the civic body, and both the BJP and GNLF drew a blank.

The Hamro Party toppled big names like Bimal Gurung and Anit Thapa in Darjeeling, however, Ajoy Edwards, the leader of the party lost his own ward.

“I also accept my defeat in Ward 22 with humility. Hamro Party had never stated that I, Ajoy Edwards, was the pre-determined candidate for the municipality’s chairmanship. It was an open house,” Edwards said after hisparty emerged victorious.

Ajoy Edwards was earlier a member of the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) which had supported the BJP in the hills. The polls were held on February 27.

With nearly 95 lakh people exercising their franchise, more than 8,000 candidates took part. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which won 77 seats in the state assembly elections in May last year, couldn’t win a single civic body.

With agency inputs.