The Bengal BJP leadership is seeing no hope in the contest at 108 municipalities that will go to the polls on February 27, with its organisation reportedly battered by infighting and lapses in fielding “appropriate” candidates against the nominees of the ruling party.

BJP insiders said they had no hope of securing victory at any of the four municipal corporations that had gone to the polls on Saturday or even giving a “neck-to-neck fight” to Trinamul.

In the Assembly elections last year, the BJP had led in at least 65 urban local bodies.

“The terror and violence unleashed by Trinamul may be one of the reasons behind the party’s poor performances. However, lapses on our part, mainly owing to organisational feuds, and failure to identify appropriate candidates are also to blame,” said a senior BJP leader.

BJP leaders are citing three primary reasons for the party’s apparent downturn in less than a year since the Assembly polls. First, the drubbing in the Assembly elections exacerbated internal feuds following changes to several district committees.

“Second, Trinamul’s torture tactics. Lastly, the leaders’ absence from the ground to show solidarity with aggrieved grassroots workers may have exposed further chinks in the armour,” said a source.

BJP’s chief spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya said: “The way the elections were conducted on Saturday was enough to make the people of Bengal surprised. People from any area don’t want such violence at all. Party workers are on the ground to give a fight despite several odds, including atrocities by the ruling party.”

In districts like Bankura and Purulia, where the party had won several Assembly seats eight months ago, leaders are not so confident about winning a civic body.

“We have fielded candidates in all wards of three civic bodies but can’t assure that we will win a single civic body as most leaders are not helping on ground campaigns reportedly because district committees were changed,” said a BJP leader in Bankura.

In other south Bengal districts like East Burdwan, Hooghly and Birbhum, BJP nominees have either withdrawn nominations or are keeping away from campaigning.

In most districts, several BJP nominees and leaders have not been able to commence their campaign and are reportedly facing challenges in completing wall graffiti in time. In Birbhum, most candidates have withdrawn their papers and a section of BJP leaders is blaming district office-bearers for lapses in appropriate candidates’ selection.

“The BJP has been winning ward 5 of Rampurhat municipality for the past 20 years and outgoing councillor Subhasish Choudhury was denied a ticket this time. It went instead to a woman who ultimately withdrew her papers,” said a source in the BJP.

“It was a complete lapse on the party’s part in selecting candidates. It was interesting to see that the CPM did not announce the candidates after nomination so as to avoid withdrawal under pressure. But we could not do the same,” added a BJP leader.

BJP leaders, however, remain hopeful about few civic bodies in north Bengal. “We are quite sure that our performance in north Bengal will be better than in south Bengal. But it is hard to say whether it will be enough to win a civic body,” a leader said.