WB rural polls: Trinamool wins Nandigram, Singur
21 May 2008, 1602 hrs IST,PTI

KOLKATA: In a jolt to the CPM-led Left Front, Trinamool Congress on Wednesday defeated its candidates in trouble-torn Nandigram in the three-tier panchayat elections in West Bengal. ( Watch )

The Front also faced rout in three zilla parishad seats in Singur to Trinamool Congress candidates.

The polls are seen as a litmus test for the Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee government's farmland acquisition policy for industries.

Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress wrested control of zilla parishad in East Midnapur where trouble-torn Nandigram is located. It won 32 of the 53 seats, results of which were declared so far.

It is the first time that Trinamool Congress gained control over a zilla parishad, the main decision-making body in the district. In the last poll in 2003, the Trinamool had two seats in the zilla parishad.

Never before has the industry been a major plank in the panchayat polls, particular in Nandigram and Singur.

The Left Front was, however, maintaining a lead in other districts and having a neck-and-neck contest in zilla parishad seats in Congress strongholds of Murshidabad and Malda.

Polls were held to the three-tier panchayat system in three phases on May 11,14 and 18.