July 29, 2013
The results show that it is the victory of the people and democracy – Mamata Banerjee on Panchayat Polls results
“The results show that it is the victory of the people and democracy. It is also a victory of the `Maa-Mati-Manush`.
People have voted at a difficult time of heat, rains and the ongoing Ramzan. We should respect the verdict and behave in a peaceful manner,” she told at the Writers` Bldgs.
She said that Trinamool Congress had registered an increase in the percentage of votes compared to the percentage of votes it had secured in the last Assembly election.
The CPI-M has failed to keep its dominance in its strongholds like Burdwan, Birbhum, Bankura, Purulia and West Midnapore districts and the AITMC has performed well there, she pointed out.
She said that the CPI(M), BJP and the Congress had formed an unofficial alliance to fight the Trinamool Congress. “We have fought on our own for the first time with the help of the people who are with us.”
She predicted that the AITMC would garner approximately 75 per cent of the votes and that the party would win in 13 districts.
In the two districts of North Dinajpur and Malda, the outcome would be hung where AITMC would play the balancing factor, while in Jangalmahal, out of 290 gram panchayats, AITMC would bag 275, the Chief Minister predicted.
She said that a few constitutional bodies had acted against the government, but added she had respect for those entities. “Some had also campaigned against the party overseas”, she claimed.
She said that the she would dedicate the victory to the people of rural Bengal formally on August 21, which would be observed as Martyr's Day by the party this year instead of the traditional July 21.
