West Bengal Panchayat Election 2023 Results: Mamata's TMC Dominates Rural Polls, Bags Over 28,000 Seats, BJP Gets 7,700; Counting Underway

West Bengal Panchayat Election 2023 Results Latest Updates: The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Tuesday secured victory in over 28,985 gram panchayat seats in West Bengal and was leading in another 1,540 seats, while the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bagged 7,764 seats and was ahead in 417 seats out of the 63,229 gram panchayat seats across the state. Counting of votes for the three-tier panchayat polls to nearly 74,000 seats, which besides the gram panchayat seats also includes 9,728 panchayat samiti seats and 928 zilla parishad seats, began at 8 am on Tuesday. There are around 339 counting venues spread across 22 districts.

The counting for the West Bengal panchayat election 2023 is likely to continue for the next two days as it will take time for the ballots to be counted and the results to be compiled.

According to the latest data released by the West Bengal Election Commission, the Left Front has secured 2,468 seats, of which the CPI(M) alone has won 2,409. The Left is currently leading in 260 seats. The Congress has won 2,022 seats and is leading in 139. Other parties have won 725 seats and are leading in 23 seats, while independents -- which included TMC rebels -- have so far won 1,656 seats and led in 104 seats.

The ruling TMC has won 2,155 Panchayat samiti seats and is leading in 493. BJP has won 214 and is leading in 113 seats, while CPI(M) has won 47 seats and is leading in 48 others and Congress has won in 38 seats and is leading in 23 seats. 

The Mamata-led party has also won all 77 Zila Parishad results declared so far and is leading in 92 others while CPI(M) is leading in 5 seats, while Congress is leading in 1 and the BJP in 10.

In Darjeeling hills, out of the 598 seats in Darjeeling and 281 in Kalimpong, the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) is leading in many areas and is expected to be the new numero uno in the Bengal hill districts.

As initial trends started pouring in, a war of words broke out between the TMC and the BJP, with the latter accusing the ruling party of 'making last desperate attempts to loot votes by blocking opposition agents from entering counting centres'.

"TMC goons are making desperate attempts to steal the elections by obstructing the counting agents and candidates of the BJP and other opposition political parties from entering counting centres. They are being restricted from going towards the venue, and bombs are being hurled to intimidate counting agents," leader of the Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari said.

Refuting the allegations, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said, "Sensing defeat, they are making baseless allegations."

"Rejected by people and sensing humiliating defeat, this is BJP's last attempt to come up with lame excuses to make up for its own organisational failures," he added.

Violence rocked West Bengal's panchayat election on Saturday

Violence had rocked West Bengal's rural polls on Saturday, leaving as many as 15 people dead while ballot boxes were vandalised, ballot papers torched, and bombs thrown at rivals in several places. Of those killed, 11 were reportedly affiliated with Mamata Banerjee's party. The total death toll in the state since the poll process began on June 8, when the dates were announced, has so far crossed 30.

A voter turnout of 80.71 per cent was recorded on Saturday, whereas a vote percentage of 69.85 was recorded till 5 pm in 696 booths across West Bengal, where re-polling was held on Monday. A total of 5.67 crore people living in the state's rural areas were eligible to decide the fate of 2.06 lakh candidates in 73,887 seats of the panchayat system.

The decision for re-polling was taken after reviewing reports of violence and tampering with ballot boxes and ballot papers on Saturday.

It is notable that Saturday's violence was in keeping with the state's history of violent rural elections, including the 2003 panchayat polls, which gained notoriety for its cumulative death toll of 76 during the poll process, with nearly 40 killed on the day of polling.

This year, with more than 30 killed since polls were announced earlier last month, the toll remained almost equal to that of the previous panchayat elections in 2018. However, this time, the Opposition had fielded candidates in more than 90 per cent of seats, unlike in 2018 rural polls, when the ruling TMC had won 34 per cent of the seats uncontested.

Panchayat election 2023 result: TMC emerged victorious in 2018

In the 2018 West Bengal Panchayat elections, the ruling TMC had emerged victorious in 90 per cent of the panchayat seats and all the 22 zilla parishads.

The elections were marred by widespread violence, with the Opposition alleging they were prevented from filing nominations in several seats.