Mamata ahead in West Bengal

Online Desk :
The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) was ahead of the BJP in the keenly watched state of West Bengal as trends poured in for counting of votes on Sunday in the high-stakes assembly elections in India’s four states and a union territory.

According to trends available for 282 out of 292 constituencies in West Bengal, the TMC was leading in 151 while the BJP in 124.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was trailing her BJP rival Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram by 3460 votes after two rounds of counting.

Counting of votes began at 8:00 AM and continue late into the night with as many as 1,100 counting observers watching the process.

The counting of votes for the assembly polls is being taken up at a time when the country is grappling with a raging COVID pandemic. The EC has banned victory roadshows and vehicle rallies.

Polling was held in eight phases in West Bengal between March 27 and April 29.

A three-tier security arrangement is in place in West Bengal’s counting centres 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.

The result will decide whether Mamata Banerjee, who has been in power for 10 years and is arguably fighting the toughest poll of her political career, has been able to thwart the challenge by the battle-hardened election army of the BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.

The BJP, which had just three seats in the 294-member Assembly after the polls and went to win 18 out of 42 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, had pulled out all the stops in the state in a determined bid to oust Mamata Banerjee, a vocal critic of Prime Minister Modi, and add another state to its tally of 17.