Summary:
Kolkata, Jun 29 (PTI) The nine-month-old Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) emerged as the largest single party in elections to the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration in the Darjeeling hills, winning 27 out of 45 seats, officials said.
The BGPM, led by former GTA chairman Anit Thapa, is a breakaway faction of the Bimal Gurung-led Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) which had boycotted the GTA polls held after a decade in the hills.
Another newly floated outfit, Hamro Party, and the Trinamool Congress bagged eight and five seats respectively, while five independent candidates emerged victorious in the GTA polls, the officials said.
This is for the first time that the TMC won seats in the GTA, a semi-autonomous council that governs the Darjeeling hills.
"The BGPM has won 27 seats.
The Hamro Party bagged eight.
The TMC has secured five seats.
Five independents have also won the election," an official said.
Polls to the GTA were held on Sunday, after a decade marked by a series of changes in the region"s political dynamics.
In September last year, Thapa formed the BGPM.
He shared a cordial relationship with the TMC, the ruling party of West Bengal.
Unlike the GJM and the GNLF, he has moved away from the warpath with the TMC government over a separate Gorkhaland state and rather focused on the issue of the basic development of the hills, such as education, health, clean drinking water and employment.
"The people of the hills want development.
We all have to work towards ensuring overall development of the hills," Thapa, whose party had contested 36 seats, said.
The election to GTA is important as whoever controls it gets the upper hand in the hill politics.
Reacting to the poll results, the Hamro Party, which had won the Darjeeling Municipality a few months back, said it would play the role of a responsible opposition in the GTA.
"The people of the hills have given a mandate.