Kolkata, April 9: The Trinamool Congress on Monday regained control in the entire district of Birbhum as no nominations were made by the Opposition candidates for the zilla parishad seats.

Sayed Jimmi, Congress' senior leader from Birbhum, said there were candidates in the fray who wanted to challenge the TMC. "But the arm-twisting tactics of the ruling party ensured the nominations could not be filed by the challengers," he claimed.

The allegation was reiterated by BJP's Birbhum district president Ramkrishna Roy, claiming that none expect one candidate of their party succeeded in filing nomination from the district. The sole BJP candidate is contesting from Rajnagar seat, currently held by the Trinamool.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) also took shot at the TMC after it was declared winner unopposed, saying the party has "murdered democracy" in a bid to remain in power.

Senior CPI(M) leader Rabin Deb claimed the Trinamool would be declared winner in several more panchayat samitis as a significant number of candidates in the fray would be threatened to withdraw their nominations ahead of the polls.

The TMC, however, refuted the goondaism charges levelled by the Opposition, claiming the Congress, CPI(M) and the BJP have failed to find candidates in Birbhum. "If they would had called me, I would had ensured their candidates file the nomination," said Trinamool's Birbhum district Anubrata Mondal.

The panchayat polls in West Bengal are scheduled to be contested in three phases -- on May 1, 3, and 5. A total of 48,650 seats in 3,358 gram panchayats, 9,217 seats in 341 panchayat samitis and 825 seats in 20 zilla parishads will be contested. The results would be declared on May 12.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 09, 2018 09:52 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).