KOLKATA: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress is poised to hoist the victory flag as the counting of votes in Bengal nears its final stages. According to the latest report, TMC has won 14,767 -gram panchayats so far, followed by BJP with 3,344 seats. CPI(M) has won 1,086 seats and Congress has won 783 seats so far. Trinamool is leading in 28 out of the 341 panchayat samitis in the state. The counting started at eight o'clock this morning and will last till midnight. Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress workers have started celebrating the victory.

21 people were killed in the riots that broke out after the elections were held on July 8. Re-polling was conducted in 696 polling booths in 19 districts in the state last day. 2.06 lakh candidates are contesting in 73,887 panchayat seats. There are 5.67 crore voters in the state.

The counting is taking place in the presence of central forces in the context of violence related to panchayat elections. Police have been deployed at 339 counting centres and 61,636 polling booths. Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose has warned that strict action will be taken against those involved in violence.