In a setback for the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, the exit polls on Saturday predicted that the Bharatiya Janata Party will move ahead of Mamata Banerjee's party in the Lok Sabha elections in the state.
The polling for 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal were held in seven phases. The counting is scheduled for June 4.
The exit poll outcome was declared after the conclusion of polling for the seventh and final phase of Lok Sabha polls on Saturday.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the TMC had won 22 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state, and the BJP won 18. The Congress won only two seats.
The exit polls predicted the BJP-led NDA creating history by winning more Lok Sabha seats than TMC in the elections.
According to the News18 exit poll, the BJP-led NDA is expected to win 21-24 seats in West Bengal. The TMC is set to win 18-21 seats.
India TV poll said that the BJP-led NDA may get between 22-26 seats, TMC 14-18 seats, and Congress to get 1-2 seats.
The ABP News-CVoter exit poll predicted a landslide victory for the BJP in West Bengal. The BJP is predicted to win 23-27 seats while the Trinamool Congress is expected to get 13-17 seats. The Congress to get 1-3 seats.
According to News 24-Today's Chanakya Analysis, the BJP is poised to win 24 seats, TMC to get 17 seats and Congress to get 1 seat.
According to the India Today-Axis My India, BJP will get 26-31 seats, TMC to get 11-14 seats and INDIA bloc to get 0-2 seats.
A voter turnout of 69.89 per cent was recorded in Bengal till 5 pm in the last phase of Lok Sabha polls in which nine seats went to the elections, the Election Commission said.
Several prominent candidates contested from various constituencies, such as Abhishek Banerjee (TMC) and Amrita Roy (BJP) from Diamond Harbour and Krishnanagar, respectively. Mahua Moitra (TMC) also contested from Krishnanagar. In Tamluk, Abhijit Gangopadhyay represented the BJP.
The Baharampur constituency saw a three-way contest between Yusuf Pathan (TMC), Nirmal Kumar Saha (BJP), and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (Congress).
In Kolkata Uttar, Sudip Bandyopadhyay (TMC), Tapas Roy (BJP), and Pradip Bhattacharya (Congress) were the main contenders.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the TMC won 34 seats in the state, while the BJP had to settle for 2 seats. The CPI (M) won 2 seats, while the Congress bagged 4.
In the Lok Sabha elections of 2014, the BJP secured 282 seats and the party secured 303 seats in the Lok Sabha elections of 2019.
The 42 parliamentary seats of Bengal polled across all seven phases--on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25, and June 1.
The voting for the 543-member Lok Sabha was held across seven phases. Votes will be counted on June 4.
