West Bengal polls: TMC wins 13 municipalities, leads 40

Kolkata: Early results of vote counting in civic polls across the state show the ruling Trinamool Congress emerging as the forbidding force again, with the party already bagging 13 of the 107 municipalities and leading in 40 other bodies.

In the chaotic state politics, despite pitched efforts by opposition parties including BJP to topple over the situation in favour of them, TMC continues to steal hearts . Fresh reports from counting places say TMC walking away with all five civic bodies in Birbhum, alongside two in South 24 Parganas and five in Coochbehar district.

Towering above opposition combined, TMC tops in 40 bodies, according to PTI report. Having no leeway to find, Opposition parties including Congress, Left Front and BJP are still far off winning a civic body. The reports glaringly show that they have won some wards in the urban areas.

Counting opened in the early Wednesday morning for the civic polls that saw 77 per cent voter turnout. Voting across the state went ahead on the polling day with reports of alleged intimidation by TMC workers, electoral malpractices, and attack on journalists.

The BJP on Monday called for a 12-hour strike to little effect on the streets demanding the state Election Commission to make the polls "null and void". Where BJP took to streets with protests demanding re-poll, CPM and the Congress termed polls the "murder of democracy" attacking TMC, police, and SEC. TMC claimed the polls having been peaceful aside from 'sporadic incidents of violence'. Aligning its voice, SEC officials found voting overall peaceful with a few areas seeing disturbance.