The official results of assembly elections in West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala state and Union Territory of Puducherry in India are yet to be announced. West Bengal’s Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is going to achieve a landslide victory in the state. Her win, with the latest, will be for the third term.
Indian online news portal NDTV says Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress is leading in 213 among 294 seats and Bharatiya Janata Party appears set to conclude below the 100 seats. Also, the Left alliance is leading in three seats in the West Bengal.
But Mamata is lagging behind BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram seat. BJP candidate Locket Chatterjee lost in Chuchura among heavyweight candidates. But film director and BJP candidate Raj Chakraborty is at ease in the Barrackpur polls. BJP’s Mukul Roy and Trinamool’s Jyotipriya Mallick are leading among senior leaders in the Assembly elections.
The West Bengal assembly elections have gone to polls in eight phases this time. Counting of votes began at 8 am local time on Sunday. Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool reportedly secured 48.3 per cent of the votes counted. The party has no record of getting so many votes in any other election in the past.
Trinamool won 211 of the 294 seats in the 2016 assembly elections. That time, the party got 44.3 per cent of the total votes cast in the elections. Earlier in the 2011 elections, Trinamool Congress won 38.9 per cent votes. In the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the party got 39.00 per cent and 43.3 per cent votes respectively.
Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress came to power in West Bengal a decade ago as Left party rule concluded after three decades. At that time, the main rivals of the Trinamool were mainly the Left and the Congress. This time analysts have been talking directly about the Trinamool’s rivalry with the BJP.
But the BJP had won only three seats in the West Bengal state in the 2016 assembly polls five years ago. But in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, it was the BJP that bagged 18 seats. Since then, the BJP’s popularity has increased. Many Trinamool MPs joined the BJP. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have regularly held meetings in the state. Additionally, that’s the reason the party was dreaming of going to power. That dream is not being fulfilled though. But according to the political analysts, this election is a “rise” of the BJP in the state.
Indian PM Narendra Modi, in his congratulatory message, tweeted: “Congratulations to Mamata Didi for Trinamool Congress’ win in West Bengal. The Centre will continue to extend all possible support to the West Bengal Government to fulfil people’s aspirations and also to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Meanwhile, BJP is leading in 78 seats in the results of 126 assembly seats in Assam. The Congress is leading in 47 seats. In addition, Congress-led alliance DMK in Tamil Nadu, Left Democratic Front in Kerala and AR Congress in Puducherry are on the verge of victory.
