Ward 73 (Kalighat area)

• 2019: Trinamool trailed by496 votes
• 2024: Trinamool led by around 500 votes

Ward 14 (Muraripukur-Bagmari area)

• 2019: Trinammol led by2,351 votes
• 2024: Trinamool leadincreased to 3,850

The sweeping victory of the Trinamool Congress in and around Calcutta in the Lok Sabha polls was a show of people’s faith in Mamata Banerjee, lack of trust in Narendra Modi’s divisive politics and a reflection of the ground-level role played by municipal councillors, several Trinamool Congress leaders said.

Wards 73 and 14 of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) are not exceptions.

Several other wards, too, either gave a greater lead compared to 2019 or reduced the trailing margin, which meant more votes for the Trinamool candidates.

In Ward 84 (Rashbehari area), which is part of the Kolkata South constituency, Trinamool’s Mala Roy had trailed her nearest rival by 317 votes in 2019. This time, she got a lead of nearly 300 votes, said party sources.

In Ward 106 (Kasba area), which is part of the Jadavpur constituency, Trinamool’s Sayani Ghosh was ahead of its nearest rival by more than 1,200 votes.

In 2019, Mimi Chakraborty of Trinamool was ahead of her nearest rival by around 800 votes, said party sources.

There are wards where the trailing margin of Trinamool candidates came down.

In Ward 70 (Bhowanipore area), Mala Roy had trailed by around 5,000 votes in 2019. This time, it was reduced to around 3,500 votes, said party sources.

“It means 1,500 more votes were cast in favour of our candidate,” said an aide to Roy.

Kajari Banerjee, the councillor of Ward 73, where chief minister Mamata Banerjee lives, said there were two reasons for her being able to convert the deficit in 2019 into a lead in 2024.

“We have worked for the people throughout the year both at the local level as well as at the government level. Also, the anti-Modi wave helped,” Kajari said.

The councillors played a crucial role in making some of Mamata’s welfare programmes like Duare Sarkar (government at your doorstep) successful. Most KMC councillors had conducted an extensive door-to-door campaign this time, instead of focusing more on larger street-corner meetings, which helped in adding to the margin, said some Trinamool leaders and councillors.

Trinamool won by 187,231 votes in Kolkata South, 258,201 votes in Jadavpur and 92,560 in Kolkata North.

Amal Chakraborty, the Trinamool councillor from Ward 14, in north Calcutta, said the door-to-door campaign helped. “We work throughout the year. But this time, going door to door had an added impact,” said Chakraborty.

Before the 2024 elections, Calcutta mayor Firhad Hakim held a closed-door meeting with party councillors, asking them to give leads from their wards. The KMC has 144 wards, of which 132 have councillors from the Trinamool Congress.

One councillor said in wards with a diverse population, the councillors played an effective role.

“Our ward has residential complexes, neighbourhoods and colony areas. The needs, demands and politics of each area are different,” said Arijit Das Thakur, councillor of Ward 106.

“We held meetings with associations of residential complexes, where people asked why we were discussing local issues during the general elections. We explained that it is important to have MPs, MLAs and councillors from the same party to have a smooth flow of funds,” he said.

One councillor said that apart from the government’s welfare schemes, the work they did during the Covid pandemic also helped them connect better with the voters.