Counting of votes for the assembly elections in West Bengal has begun. The state’s governing Trinamool Congress, led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is facing a challenge from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Ahead of the start of the counting process, polling officials and security forces clicked at a polling centre in Kolkata.
The first few hours will be for the counting of postal ballots. The elections were held amid a surge in Covid-19 cases across the country – a second wave that has ridden the country to an unprecedented crisis.
A three-tier security arrangement is in place in West Bengal’s 108 counting centres and at least 292 observers have been appointed and 256 companies of central forces deployed across 23 districts of the state that voted in a gruelling election marred by violence and vicious personal attacks, as per PTI.
Election Results 2016:
In the last assembly elections in 2016, the TMC won 211 of the 293 seats it contested. The BJP could manage just three (it contested 291 seats). The alliance of Left parties and the Congress won 76 seats. The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha won three, while one seat was won by an independent candidate.
West Bengal Exit Polls:
*The Times Now-CVoter Exit Poll has projected that the TMC is likely to win 158 Assembly seats and the BJP would make its presence feel by bagging 115 seats. The Congress-Left-Indian Secular Front alliance is likely to manage only 19 seats.
*According to the Chanakya exit poll, TMC is projected to win 180 Assembly constituencies, while the BJP may bag 108. The Left-Congress-ISF combine may get only 4.
*P-Marq survey predicted TMC to return to power with 158 Assembly seats and the BJP is likely to win 120. The Left-Congress-ISF combine may get a meagre 14 seats.
*MY Axis survey gave BJP 147 seats and 143 to TMC.
*CNX Republic projected the BJP to win 143 Assembly segments while Banerjee’s outfit may get 133. The Left-Congress-ISF alliance is likely to win only 16 seats.
*Jan Ki Baat survey: BJP expected to create history by winning with 174 seats, while TMC’s may win only 112.
*People’s Pulse survey predicted BJP to win the West Bengal election by winning 192 seats and TMC would end up bagging 88 constituencies. It projected the Left-Congress alliance to bag only 12 seats.
The TMC has been in power in the state since 2011. Several TMC leaders joined the BJP in the run-up to the elections and Mamata Banerjee contested Nandigram against her former ministerial colleague Suvendu Adhikari.
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