Trinamul trounces CPM in school polls

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Statesman News Service
KOLKATA, Dec. 3: Terror tactics used by CPI-M cadres in Nandigram and the party’s land “grabbing” for Tata Motors in Singur has weakened its support base in South 24-Parganas. This was indicated by the recent election results of the managing committee of schools in the urban part of South 24-Parganas.
All six CPIM-backed candidates that fought the Baruipur Keyatala High School managing committee election yesterday, lost to Trinamul Congress contestants.
The CPI-M has lost successive polls to the managing committees of several other schools in South 24-Parganas in the last two months.
Though the local CPI-M leadership blamed its declining support to the lack of communication between contestants and students’ guardians, Trinamul Congress leaders claimed that the voters spoke out against the CPI-M’s Nandigram invasion and the brutality unleashed by the Red cadres on the people of Nandigram and Singur. Nearly 2,000 voters (parents of students) cast their vote yesterday evening through secret ballots.
The counting, held in the school under tight security, produced a shocking result for the CPI-M as all six Trinamul Congress-backed contestants experienced a landslide victory. Last year, all six CPIM-backed candidates were unanimously elected by the school managing committee.
The Opposition parties did not even get a chance to project their candidates.
Last week, the CPI-M lost control of the managing committee of Ghatakpukur High School in Bhangar. All the Trinamul Congress-backed candidates emerged victorious in the school managing committee election.
In the last two months, the CPI-M lost control of the managing committee of a few schools in the urban part of the district. Elections to the managing committees of some schools in Budge Budge, Maheshtala, Joynagar, Bhangar and Baruipur were held in the last two months.
The CPI-M initiated a soul-searching exercise to find out the reasons behind the party's debacle in the school elections.
“It is evident that some people have distanced themselves from the party which resulted in the defeat of CPIM-supported candidates in school managing committee elections. The reason for this is perceived to be the malicious campaign that the Opposition parties and a section of the media carried out against the CPI-M in the last few months,” a senior CPI-M leader said.