BJP Leads in Bengal Early Trends, Nears Majority Mark

News channels have projected a narrow lead for the BJP in the 294-member assembly, projecting leads of 138 seats for the BJP, just ten short of the halfway mark of 148. TMC is leading on 120 seats.

Meanwhile, West Bengal LoP and BJP candidate from Nandigram and Bhabanipur, Suvendu Adhikari, expressed confidence in his party's performance as counting for the Assembly elections is underway.

He claimed that initial trends show the BJP leading in over 130 seats, while the Trinamool Congress is around 100.

He said the contest in Bhabanipur may be close in the early rounds, but expressed confidence that he will take the lead after more rounds of counting.

Speaking to the reporters, Adhikari said, "BJP is forming the Government. Initial trends show BJP as 135 plus and approx 100 to TMC. Initially, it will be a neck-to-neck fight in Bhabanipur. In the first round of counting, out of the 14 booths, 6 are Muslim-majority. They used to get 90-95% of those votes last time, but it didn't happen this time; there is a crack. I am leading the 8 Hindu booths. From round 9-10 in Bhabanipur, I will be leading."

"There is anti-incumbency, plus Hindus are consolidated in favour of the Lotus. This is a very good signal for us...There has also been a Muslim vote bifurcation, especially in Malda, Mushidabad and Uttar Dinajpur," he further said.

West Bengal recorded the highest-ever voter turnout since independence with an impressive 91.66% polling in Phase-II of the Assembly elections. In the phase-I the poll-participation was 93.19%, taking the combined poll percentage to 92.47%.

In the 2021 West Bengal Assembly election, the Trinamool Congress led by Mamata Banerjee secured a decisive mandate, winning 213 out of 294 seats with a vote share of around 48 per cent, while the Bharatiya Janata Party emerged as the principal opposition with 77 seats and roughly 38 per cent votes, marking a sharp rise from its previous tally. The Left-Congress alliance failed to win any seats.

- ANI