The outcome of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation election was fairly settled even before the first vote was cast last Sunday. That said, the foregone conclusion ought not to militate against the significance of the Trinamool Congress’ spectacular triumph, that has now been etched in the red brick building on SN Banerjee Road.
While the citizen might readily concur with Mamata Banerjee’s prognosis that the record sweep is a victory for democracy, it might be a tad premature to believe that it “will show the way for the entire nation”. The Trinamool Congress outside West Bengal is an insubstantial entity, notwithstanding its recent recruitments in Goa and Meghalaya. The primary significance of the Kolkata outcome must be that Trinamool has won a whopping 93 per cent of the seats, the Bhartiya Janata Party has had to be content with only three wards under its belt, and the Left and the Congress two each.
In real terms, the opposition to the Trinamool has all been wiped out, indicating an unambiguous choice by the voter. In terms of the psephological swing, Trinamool has surpassed its performance in the last Assembly election by 23 percentage points, securing 72 per cent of the votes polled. The vote-share of the BJP has declined to 9.21 per cent, down from 29 per cent in the summer; in Kolkata, the party has thus fallen behind the Left which has secured 11.89 per cent of the vote.
The Congress, according to Miss Banerjee, is “sandwiched” between the CPI-M and the BJP, which is a far cry from Jyoti Basu’s one-time appeal for a CPM-Congress tie-up to keep the BJP at bay. “This landslide victory represents a verdict of the people, by the people, and for the people,” was Miss Banerjee’s immediate response. By any reckoning, it has been a famous victory, and some good for the city must come of it. The Chief Minister seemed acutely aware of her enhanced responsibility when she said, “This mandate will further help us to do more and more work for the people.”
The problems the city faces are endemic and include environmental degradation, chronic waterlogging, clogged canals and drains, some of which date back to British India. Add to these, tottering infrastructure in schools and health facilities run by the corporation and an unedifying work culture. These facts are known to voters. That 72 per cent of them believe their best chance for an improved lot lies in giving a fresh mandate to the Trinamool will doubtless be reassuring to the party.
It also places a great responsibility on those tasked with helming municipal affairs for the next few years. In dealing with infrastructural challenges, as well as those posed by a city that, thanks to high population density, bursts at the seams, they will have their work cut out for them. The faith reposed in them ought to make their commitment unequivocal.