LF strategy pays off, topples Trinamool

And so it was. The final tally of 75 seats for the LF shows the plan was implemented to perfection and precision, with its candidates wresting a number of marginal seats from the Trinamool and the Congress. And thus giving the LF an absolute majority in the 141-seat KMC.

The Left’s pre-poll assessment had indicated that it would win in 69 wards, against the 61 seats that it held in the last Board. Even a confidential report of the Kolkata Police predicted the LF as the victory by a narrow margin.

The LF had won 61 seats in the KMC polls in 2000.

This year, with Subrata Mukherjee splitting from the Trinamool, the LF figured it would gain eight seats in wards where the anti-Left vote would be split between the Trinamool and UDA. But even this would leave it short of the 71 required for an absolute majority.

So to ensure victory, the Left decided to target six marginal wards, confided a senior party member. In 2000, the Left had lost these wards — 19, 23, 34, 40, 57 and 70 — by narrow margins ranging from 343 to 1,222 votes.

The Left put its ‘‘machinery’’ at the six wards under the care of senior leaders or ministers. Known poll strategists like Alok Majumdar, Prabir Mitra, Anadi Sahu and even minister Manab Mukherjee were given individual charge of monitoring the voting process at these wards.

The Trinamool Congress may have lost, but Mamata Banerjee still has reason to smile. Her party has emerged as the strongest opposition against the Left Front, with the Trinamool-BJP alliance bagging 45 seats while the Congress-led UDA managed to win only 19.

Scorecard

Total seats: 141
Results declared: 141
Left Front: 75 (61)
Trinamool-BJP: 45 (61)
Congress: 15 (15)
Mancha: 5
Independents: 1 (4)

* Figures in brackets indicate the tallies in 2000 polls