Trinamool Congress won four out of the seven Bengal towns that had gone to municipal elections last Sunday and created history by taking control of Mirik municipality in the hills and becoming the first mainstream political party from the plains to win an election in the last three decades.
Ashadul Islam, Ward no. 9 candidate from Congress who won the election with 504 votes came out of the counting centre and joined TMC.
09:16 (IST) May 17
Gorkha Janmukti Morcha still leading in Darjeeling and Kurseong. In Darjeeling, GJM leads in 7 of the 32 seats.
09:05 (IST) May 17
Mirik municipality: TMC wins in ward no. 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9; Gorkha Janmukti Morcha wins in 1, 4 and 6.
08:59 (IST) May 17
Celebrations begin as TMC leads in 10 wards of Pujali.
08:53 (IST) May 17
GJM wins Darjeeling ward no. 16.
08:51 (IST) May 17
BJP wins two wards in Pujali including ward no. 9 where re-polling was held yesterday.
08:45 (IST) May 17
TMC wins Mirik municipality. The party has won 6 of the 9 municipal wards in Mirik. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee in March had declared Mirik as a new sub-division of the Darjeeling district. The CM also had promised to fulfill the long standing demand of land rights to people in Mirik.
Half an hour before the State Election Commission is expected to wrap up the poll process in the seven municipalities by declaring results, the Calcutta high court on Wednesday will hear a petition which seeks to suspend results in three municipalities -Pujali, Raigunj and Domkal -countermand the poll process there, and order fresh polls.