The Trinamul Congress on Monday established its dominance in rural Bengal by trouncing the Left Front in the panchayat elections. The Trinamul Congress started its winning streak in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections and coming to power in the 2011 Assembly elections.
By winning the gram panchayats in 13 out of 17 districts where rural polls were held, and heading for a convincing triumph in panchayat samiti and zilla parishad elections as well, Ms Banerjee is set to sweep rural Bengal.
The results of the five-phase panchayat elections were declared on Monday. The ruling party dominated in almost every district before the final gram panchayat results were out. The Opposition Left Front managed to win the districts of Jalpaiguri and North Dinajpur with 54 and 48 gram panchayats while the Congress retained its stronghold of Murshidabad with 107 gram panchayats after facing a tough fight from the Left Front. However, Malda district, a Congress bastion, was won by Others with 57 gram panchayats.