The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) appears set to establish a government in West Bengal, having surged past the majority threshold. The party secured an early lead in initial counting trends and continued to hold onto it throughout the day.
The results of the West Bengal assembly elections, held across two phases on April 23 and April 29—are being announced today, following an intense campaign battle between the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, and the BJP.
The TMC is striving for a historic fourth consecutive term in the state, while the BJP aims to break new ground by winning Bengal for the very first time. Besides these two main contenders, other political parties such as the Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) are also in the race.
Vote counting is underway for 293 constituencies. The Election Commission of India (ECI) had ordered a repoll in the Falta constituency on May 21.
Unsurprisingly, the polling process in Bengal witnessed multiple incidents of violence, particularly between workers of the rival parties, along with reports of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) tampering. As a result, a repoll was conducted across 15 booths in the Diamond Harbour and Magrahat Paschim areas of West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district on May 2, just two days before the counting date.
The ECI’s decision to order a repoll followed reports of EVM manipulation during the second phase of voting on Thursday, April 29.
West Bengal has a total of 294 assembly constituencies, of which 152 went to the polls in the first phase on April 23, and the remaining 142 voted in the second phase on April 29.
