The overwhelming majority of victories in the civic polls has landed the Trinamul in a spot of bother as the number of claimants for posts of chairman in the 103 civic bodies where it has won is rising by the day.

In the just concluded civic polls to the 108 municipalities across Bengal, the Trinamul emerged victorious in 103 civic bodies, with a clean sweep in 33 of those. Now is the time when chief minister Mamata Banerjee has to sit down to handpick chairmen to run the boards for the next five years.

Trinamul sources said Mukul Roy, who had joined the Trinamul after winning on a BJP ticket, was lobbying hard for his son Subhrangshu for the Halishahar municipality, but Mamata has turned him down.

“Didi has made it clear that incumbent chairman Sudama Roy will continue to lead the board. Mukul da is obviously disappointed and is rarely seen in public these days,” said a Trinamul leader close to Mamata.

In East Midnapore’s Contai which the Adhikari family had lorded over for the last four decades, first with the Congress and later Trinamul, the party has been able to retain the board, since Adhikari junior Suvendu, now leader of the Opposition in the Bengal Assembly, switched to the BJP along with his brother, the outgoing chairperson Soumendu.

For the Contai Municipality, the Trinamul has opted for a woman councillor as chairman, while the Ramnagar MLA and minister-of-state for fisheries (with independent charge) Akhil Giri’s son Suprakash has been made the vice-chairman. Another reason for handing number two position in the chairman's council to the younger Giri is that they are related to the Adhikari’s (the wives of Sisir Adhikari and Akhil Giri were sisters).

In North Bengal too the party has a problem. For the Cooch Behar municipality, former minister Rabindranath Ghosh has his eyes on the chairman’s seat. But Dinhata MLA Udayan Guha (who had ensured Dinhata voters didn’t have to vote and won the board uncontested) is opposed to Ghosh getting any leverage that could upset the power balance in the district.

In North 24-Parganas, Bhatpara which is known as the home turf of Arjun Singh, who made his political career switching from the Congress to Trinamul and now BJP, from where he went to the Lok Sabha from the Barrackpore seat, the ruling Trinamul has as many as eight claimants for the chairman’s post in the board comprising 36 wards, where the ruling party has won 33 of the 35 wards. Election to one ward is pending since the CPM nominee from the ward died before polling. On Thursday, a Trinamul office in Bhatpara was ransacked in clashes between two factions.

“There is a problem of plenty. Having spent crores on the elections, everyone wants a share of the pie. This will definitely lead to rise of factionalism in the party,” said a senior Trinamul leader.

In North 24-Parganas Panihati, the Trinamul’s government chief whip Nirmal Ghosh’s younger son Tirthankar has the support of 30 councillors in the 35-member board.

In Ashoknagar, also in North 24-Parganas, the toss up is between Jaya Dutta and ex-MLA Dhiman Roy.