Fight for Calcutta ends in a tie

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To form the next board, the Trinamool Congress will have to secure the support of at least seven Congress councillors or engineer a split among the winning Congress candidates.

At the end of a neck-and-neck race in which fortunes swung, both the fronts bagged 61 wards each in Calcutta. The Congress came a poor third with 14 wards, but ended up as a crucial player for the days ahead. Among five Independents, three were supported by the TMC-BJP while the rest are likely to go in favour of the Left.

The counting began at about afternoon and the results began to pour in. There were frequent mood swings with the equations changing with every round. First, it was Salt Lake where the Trinamool was way ahead of the CPM in the initial rounds. But by 2 pm, the CPM made a dramatic comeback to make it 11-11 in a 23-ward civic board. Even as the final count was on in the final ward amidst tremendous tension, the counting had to be stopped because of the failure of an electronic voting machine. It could not be set right till late evening and the State Election Commission was yet to decide on the course of action.

In Calcutta, there was utter confusion with each party furnishing a tally of seats that differed from the other. The State Election Commission kept silent adding to the confusion. It could be learnt from Writers Buildings that the Trinamool Congress-BJP combine and the Left Front were locked at 61-61.

Neither of the two sides has a clear majority of 71 seats which is needed to form the 141-ward Calcutta Municipal Board. Mamata Banerjee, the Trinamool leader, said that any winning Congress candidate willing to join her was welcome. But she will not invite the Congress as a party to lend support to her. She claimed that already five or six winning councillors from the Congress have approached her pledging support.

A B A Ghani Khan Chowdhury, on the other hand, said that the party’s prime aim was to prevent the Left from coming to power again. But the final strategy would be chalked out in a meeting on Thursday. The Congress might bargain for a change in the mayoral candidate in exchange for support. But party insiders did not rule out the possibility of some winning councillors changing floors and joining the TMC-BJP combine.

The mood in the CPM headquarter in Alimuddin Street was evidently downcast. But Anil Biswas, the party’s state secretary, said the formation of the board is still wide open. As per the last parliament election results the Left should have won only 25 wards but it has bagged 61. "We are happy with the performance, though it is down nine this time," Biswas said. "And since it is a tie with each front winning 61 wards each, the Left would stake its claim and contest the post oft mayor," he added. Significantly, the CPM would like to see a contest over the post of mayor because it knows that Subrata Mukherjee – Trinamool’s projected mayor – is not acceptable to the Congress.