The Trinamool Congres (TMC) on Tuesday wrested control over the Bhatpara municipality in West Bengal’s North 24 Paraganas district, thereby regaining all the civic bodies that had gone to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after the Lok Sabha polls.
“We won the vote of confidence at the Bhatpara Municipality 19-0,” the State’s Food Minister Jyotipriyo Mullick told The Hindu.
Calcutta HC orders
The vote of confidence at the Municipality, which was headed by BJP MP from Barrackpore Arjun Singh’s nephew Sourav Singh, was held in accordance with the directions of the Calcutta High Court.
A Division Bench of Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Protik Prakash Banerjee on Monday ordered a meeting to move the no-trust motion against the Chairman of the municipality to be held on Tuesday afternoon.
“Voting, if any, will be held under the supervision of the [State Election] Commission’s representative,” the order of the Division Bench said.
The no-confidence motion was held under the supervision of the District Magistrate of North 24 Parganas. BJP MP Arjun Singh said that the none of the BJP Councillors attended the no-confidence motion as the party has approached Supreme Court against the Calcutta High Court’s order.
The municipality has 35 wards, none of which are vacant at present.
On the boil
Bhatpara has been on boil since the results of the Lok Sabha polls were declared in May 2019. Several persons have died in politically motivated violence. After the TMC lost the Barrackpore and Bongaon Lok Sabha seats to the BJP, the majority of councillors of the six civic bodies turned their allegiance to the BJP.
Other than Bhatpara, the civic bodies that had gone to the BJP include Garulia, Naihati, Kancharapara, Halisahar and Bongaon.
“In a little over six months, we have won back all the municipalities. The reason was that the councillors were forced to join the BJP using different arm-twisting tactics. The moment they realised that only Mamata Banerjee can provide leadership to the people, they are all back with us,” Mr. Mullick said.
