Change of guard in Darjeeling Municipality in just 10 months

Kolkata, Dec 28 On expected lines, the change of guard in the Darjeeling Municipality in the north West Bengal's hills happened on Wednesday with the Anit Thapa-led Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) and Trinamool Congress alliance, taking control following a no-confidence motion against the previous board controlled by Ajay Edwards's Hamro Party.

The change of guard happened just 10 months after Hamro Party took control of the board in the Darjeeling Municipality polls in February this year, bagging 18 out of 32 wards in the civic body.

The BGPM-Trinamool alliance won 10 seats, with the BGPM at eight and the Trinamool at two. The Bimal Gurung-led Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), which was once the final word in the hills of north Bengal, won just four seats.

However, things changed on November 24, as six elected councillors of the Hamro Party shifted to the BGPM.

On Wednesday, decks were easily cleared for the BGPM-Trinamool combine to take control as none of the councillors of the Hamro Party or the GJM turned up at the municipality office while the no-confidence motion process was going on there.

Edwards has already said that they will not accept the result of the no-confidence motion at any cost and will move the Supreme Court shortly, challenging it on the grounds that the change happened by virtue of the steps taken by six turncoat councillors.

Dipen Thakuri, one of the six defecting Hamro Party councillors, was appointed the new Chairman of the Darjeeling Municipality.

Thapa said that he will come to Kolkata next week and meet Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to seekg her cooperation in running the show in Darjeeling Municipality.

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