Kolkata, May 17 (IANS): Upbeat after the ruling Trinamool Congress made impressive gains in the civic polls in the West Bengal hills, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said a new era has started in the region after decades. For the first time, the Trinamool managed to break the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha's decade-long monopoly over the hills, as the State Election Commission announced the results of the May 14 civic polls. The Trinamool captured the Mirik Notified area and picked up seats in Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong municipalities. Elsewhere in the state, the Trinamool virtually wiped out all opposition, by emerging triumphant in the Domkal, Raiganj and Pujali municipalities. The Congress-Left Front alliance and the Bharatiya Janata Party were decimated. "Congratulations to Ma Mati Manush for again and again putting their trust in us. We are honoured, privileged and humbled," Banerjee said on Twitter. She hailed the voters of Darjeeling, Kurseong, Kalimpong, Mirik for participating in the democratic process. "Special thanks to Mirik for reposing faith in us. We will work sincerely for you. After so many decades we begin a new era in the hills. The hills are smiling," added the Trinamool supremo. Hailing the party's success in the hills, state Sports Minister Arup Biswas claimed that the state government's attempt to establish democracy in the hills has been fulfilled. "Mamata Banerjee has been working for a long time to establish democracy in the hills. Her dream about the hills has been fulfilled today. Her biggest success is the establishment of a democratic environment in the hills for the first time since independence," said Biswas, who was in charge of party's civic poll campaign in the hills. "The result in Mirik is a reflection of Mamata Banerjee's model of development in the hills. The people of Mirik had been neglected for a long time. There was no development in the region. People have voted for the Trinamool Congress to get the taste of development," he added. However, Gorkha Janamukti Morcha chief Bimal Gurung claimed there was a miscalculation in the counting of votes in Mirik and demanded a recount. "Something went wrong in Mirik. The counting should have started at 8.30 a.m. but that did not happen. I have complained about it and demanded a recounting of votes. However, we will keep working to address whatever issues are there," Gurung said. Talking about the GJM's success in Kalimpong and Darjeeling municipalities, Gurung said, "this is a victory of the common people." Congress leader Manoj Chakraborty, however, claimed that the results did not reflect the people's will. "Everybody has seen on television what all happened on the polling day. There was rampant terrorisation and intimidation of voters and opposition workers. Votes were looted by the Trinamool," he alleged. The Trinamool Congress won four out of the seven Bengal towns that had gone into municipal election last Sunday and created history by taking control of a Mirik Municipality in the hills and becoming the first political mainstream political party from the plains to win an election in the last three decades. Trinamool Congress won Pujali in south 24 parganas, Domkal in Murshidabad, Raiganj in north Dinajpur and Mirik in Darjeeling. In all the four municipalities, Trinamool Congress swept the election results+ . At Pujali, TMC won 12 out of the 16 wards with BJP coming second with only 2 wards. At Domkal, TMC won 20 out of the 21 wards. The opposition of Congress - Left alliance had initially won 3 wards but immediately after the results, two of them - Rafikul Islam of ward 20 and Ashadul Islam of ward 9 joined Trinamool Congress, cutting down their tally to just 1. This was the first ever election for the Domkal Municipality. Raigani Municipality, that was in control of Congress prior to the election was also swept by the TMC that won 24 out of the 27 wards. At Mirik TMC won 6 out of 9 wards, beating the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha - BJP alliance for the first time for any political party in the plains since 1986. The three other towns in the hills - Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong however remained in control with GJM even as TMC. GJM won 31 out of the 32 seats in Darjeeling and 17 out of 20 wards in Kurseong. At Kalimpong, whose results, came out last among the seven municipalities was also won by the GJM- BJP alliance. The alliance led in 11 out of 23 wards while Harka Bahadur Chhetri led Jan Andolan Party (JAP) won 2 seats and TMC won 2 seats. On the day of the election last Sunday, violence was reported from all the three plains towns that went to vote -Pujali in the south (South 24-Parganas), Domkal in the middle (Murshidabad) and Raiganj in the north (North Dinajpur) -though the four Hills towns that voted for new civic agencies (Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kurseong and Mirik) were peaceful. State Congress chief Adhir Chowdhury petitioned PM Narendra Modi against alleged rigging of local polls and Left and Congress supporters demonstrated outside the office of the state election commission in Kolkata demanding polls be scrapped all together. The West Bengal Election Commission on Monday ordered a repoll at six booths of three municipalities that took place on Tuesday. Commenting on the results, opposition parties blamed TMC's alleged violence politics the reason behind their crushing defeat. "Everyone has seen how elections had happened this time. It was a farce in the name of election and after the way they rigged the votes, this result was expected," said Congress leader Prakash Upadhyay. CPM youth leader Satarup Ghosh said he was unhappy with the way two Congress - Left alliance leaders at Domkal joined TMC right after the win but also criticized TMC for taking them. "This is disgraceful on part of the two to not to respect the people who have voted for them and change parties right after the win. But how could even TMC take them?" he said.
