Trinamool Congress's exceptional victory in West Bengal

Kolkata, May 18: The ruling Trinamool Congress on Friday registered a thumping victory in elections to the three-tier rural bodies in West Bengal, with the BJP emerging a distant second in almost all the districts as the final round of counting of votes was underway.

The Left Front, which ruled the state for 34 years till 2011, was relegated to third position, while the Congress was virtually wiped out in Monday's polls, marred by widespread violence and allegations of strong-arm tactics and irregularities against the Trinamool.

As per reports received till 5 p.m., the ruling party had won 21,110 Gram Panchayat seats out of 31,814 that were contested, while it was leading in 29 seats.

The TMC won 4,888 of the 6,125 contested Panchayat Samiti seats, capturing more than 80 percent of the total, and were comfortably ahead in another 30.