The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took an early lead in 63 of the 293 assembly seats in West Bengal, while the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) was ahead in 37, according to trends around 10am on Monday. In 2021, the TMC swept back to power, winning 215 seats. The BJP bagged 77 seats five years back.
In Kolkata’s Bhabanipur, BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari was leading by a margin of 1,558 votes after two of the 20 rounds of counting against chief minister Mamata Banerjee in the TMC stronghold. Adhikari defeated Banerjee in the 2021 assembly polls in Nandigram.
The TMC stormed to power in 2011, ending the 34-year Left Front rule. The BJP has made inroads in Bengal since the 2019 Lok Sabha.
The counting of votes started on Monday at 8am across 77 counting centres amid heightened security. The Aam Janata Unnayan party (AJUP), which was formed by a rebel TMC lawmaker, and the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) were leading in one seat each.
Repolling has been scheduled for May 21 in the Falta assembly constituency after allegations of Electronic Voting Machine tampering, and the counting will be held on May 24.
As many as 152 assembly seats went to the polls on April 23 in the first phase. Polling in the remaining 142 assembly seats was held on April 29.
The turnout of 93.05% was the highest in the state’s history after mass disenfranchisement of all but 1,600-odd people among the 2.71 million people flagged under the controversial logical discrepancy category in the special intensive revision of electoral rolls.
Exit polls showed the BJP was on course for a historic victory in a state. Both the BJP and the TMC have claimed that the high turnout will help them.
Security was intensified across West Bengal ahead of the counting day. The number of counting centres was scaled down to 77 from 87 announced earlier, and 108 in 2021. The Election Commission of India has deployed 165 additional counting observers and 77 police observers. It introduced stringent access control measures at the counting centres, including banning mobile phones except for returning officers and observers.
The counting of votes was underway in Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Puducherry following the conclusion of the biggest electoral exercise since the 2024 polls.
