Cong gains ground in Malda ZP

Statesman News Service

MALDA, May 21: The Malda Congress has been able to retain Malda Zilla Parishad and finally bagged 18 Zilla Parishad seats out of 34 ones. In 2003, the Congress had won 15 seats out of 33 and formed the board with the help of the one BJP and one Trinamul Congress candidates . In this rural poll though the BJP has been able to retain one seat in Habibpur but the Trinamul Congress candidate has lost one seat in the same block. The Left Front has bagged only 15 seats. The CPI and RSP both have got one seat in Bamongola and Ratua respectively. The Forward Bloc has lost its seat in Harishchandrapur area. The CPI-M candidates have won 12 seats and one Socialist party candidate has been able to defeat its nearest Congress candidate. Interestingly, the Congress has snatched all four seats from Harishchandrapur I and II blocks. In 2003, the Left Front had won three seats there. After seat adjustment with the RSP, though the CPI-M expected it would be able to recapture Malda Zilla Parishad, two RSP candidates in Kaliachak I and III have been defeated by the Congress candidates. In English Bazaar, the CPI-M has gained one new seat, after delimitation, but the Congress has been able to retain its two seats here. The English Bazar MLA, Mr Krishnendu Choudhury, said: “I said earlier that the Congress would win the majority of seats in Zilla Parishad. Today's results have proved that all speculated results in favour of the CPI-M were wrong”. The upset CPI-M district secretary Mr Jiban Moitra said: “Money power of the Congress leaders has played a vital role here”. He expressed unhappiness over the LF's bad results in Kaliachak III and Harischandrapur I and II. In Kaliachak III, the CPI-M had won one seat out of three in 2003 but lost three seats. “It is unexpected for us how people can choose the Congress there (Kaliachak III) where 16 elected Congress members of that panchayat samiti were arrested on charges of corruption,” Mr Moitra said.

Malda results frustrate CPM

Statesman News Service

MALDA, May 21: The Malda CPI-M district leaders were frustrated after the results of Malda Zilla Parishad, losing their expected seats in several blocks. The Malda CPI-M leaders were taken aback by the leading trend of the Congress in Zilla Parishad and panchayat samiti seats in this district. At about 12 noon today, the Malda CPI-M leaders "unofficially" informed Allimuddin street that the party would not be able to "recapture" the Malda Zilla Parishad. The Congress may be formed "solely" or with the help of the BJP. At about 6.30 p.m. today, the Congress was leading in 18 seats out of 34 ones where the BJP candidate was declared winner. The CPI-M tried hard to regain one seat from the BJP in Habibpur block but it failed to win the seat at the last moment. Though the CPI-M has been able to snatch two seats from the Congress unexpectedly in Kaliachak I block out of three, it has lost all seats in Kaliachak II and Manikchak blocks. The CPI-M leaders did not expect the Congress would win all seats in Kaliachak II and Manikchak. These two blocks were erosion hit areas and people were not happy with the CPI-M leaders here. On the other hand, the CPI-M and Forward Bloc did not get single seat in Harischandrapur I and II blocks areas. In Kaliachak III, where all 16 Congress members of the panchayat samiti are in jail on charges of misappropriation of funds allotted for flood relief, the Congress candidates won in two seats out of three, Congress and CPI-M candidates are fighting neck to neck. In Old Malda, Bamongola and in Gazole, particularly in Barind belt, the CPI-M and its LF partners have been able to retain their seats. The Socialist party has been able to snatch one seat which was under clutch of the Trinamul Congress. The CPI-M and the RSP have been able to snatch two Zilla Parishad seats from the Congress but in the northern part of Malda, CPI-M could not improve results in the Congress-dominated belt under the leadership of Mr Priya Ranjan Das Munshi.