Trinamul Congress could lose two zilla parishads to the BJP in north Bengal and face stiff competition from the CPM and the Congress in two others — one each in the north and south — while it is placed comfortably in the remaining 16, an exit poll conducted by C-Voter for ABP Ananda has predicted.

The survey covered 13,289 voters from 20 zilla parishads.

The BJP is predicted to win in Cooch Behar and Alipurduar and put up a fight in East Midnapore, the home district of leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari. However, Trinamul is expected to emerge the winner there.

Trinamul looks set to retain the zilla parishads in two traditional Congress strongholds, Malda and Murshidabad, but with a slender margin. In the 2021 Assembly elections, Trinamul had won more than 90 per cent of the seats in these minority community-dominated districts.

In Purulia, West Midnapore, Birbhum and South Dinajpur, the BJP is projected to be gaining ground. Trinamul had lost only a handful of seats in these districts in the 2018 rural polls.

While Trinamul is predicted to retain zilla parishads like Hooghly, West and East Burdwan, Jhargram, Howrah, North Dinajpur, Nadia and Bankura comfortably, thesurvey suggested that the Opposition — mainly the BJP — is gaining some ground here too.

“This can be a cause for concern for the ruling party as it had captured all the seats in 14 zilla parishads in 2018. This year, it appears that the Opposition parties have set up some toeholds in some districts, which is good for democracy. It will improve the functioning of the panchayats and increase the accountability of the elected representatives,” said political scientist Biswanath Chakraborty.