The Left Front won in Panchayat Elections in May 2008 but it came with a pinch of salt. The polls indicated that the industrialization drive has not
gone down well with the rural electorate. The left parties won 13 of the 17 district councils, two down from 15 that they won in 2003. Trinamool
Congress, won these two seats--in Nandigram and Singur--their first win ever in the pockets. Trinamool won all the 10 gram panchayat seats in
Nandigram. In Singur, the left won just one out of 16. "People did not vote for parties but against the government. The mandate was against land
acquisition, forced eviction and environmental problems posed by projects," said Anuradha Talwar of Paschim Bengal Khet Mazdoor Parishad.
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