West Bengal election: BJP claims early advantage, TMC remains in contention

Kolkata: The Bharatiya Janata Party-led alliance has taken an early lead on 158 seats in West Bengal, while Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress is leading on 123 seats, as per trends from the Election Commission of India.

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 140 seats, while the Trinamool Congress is around 120.

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.