2024-06-01 19:18:50
The BJP, which spearheaded an aggressive campaign against Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal, has extended its gains in the state with the exit polls predicting huge gains for the party in 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Two exit polls, Matrize and Jan Ki Baat have given 21-25 and 21-26 seats to the BJP respectively.
The ruling Trinamool Congress, which lost a significant number of seats in 2019, may end up losing a few more in these elections, if the exit poll predictions prove true on June 4.According to the Matrize exit poll, TMC will secure 16-20 seats. Jan Ki Baat has predicted 18-16 seats.
PMARQ exit poll has predicted 22 seats for BJP and 20 for TMC.
Exit poll released by D-Dynamics gave BJP 21 seats and TMC 19 seats.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had won 18 of the 42 seats in the state while the Trinamool emerged victorious on 22 seats. However, the Trinamool’s voteshare at 43.28% was just 3% more than the BJP’s 40.25%.
The BJP’s 2019 tally, both in terms of seats and voteshare, was a huge jump from what it had managed in 2014. The saffron party had won just 2 seats with a voteshare of nearly 17% in 2014 Lok Sabha elections. On the other hand, for the Trinamool, it was a loss of 12 Lok Sabha seats from the 34 it had won five years back.
The election campaign in the state was marked by very strong and sharp exchanges between the two parties. If the exit poll predictions come true on June 4, it would point to BJP making further inroads in the state.
Polling was held in West Bengal across all seven phases, from April 19 to June 1, to choose 42 members for the 18th Lok Sabha. The voter turnout remained high throughout the phases, with the first phase recording an impressive 82%, followed by the second phase with over 72% turnout. The third, fourth, fifth, and sixth phases saw voter participation at 77.53%, 80.22%, 78.45%, and 82.71%, respectively.
West Bengal has the third-highest number of Lok Sabha seats in the country, with a total of 42. Among these, 30 seats are unreserved, while 10 are allocated for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates and two for Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates.
Several prominent candidates contested from various constituencies, such as Abhishek Banerjee (AITC) and Amrita Roy (BJP) from Diamond Harbour and Krishnanagar, respectively. Mahua Moitra (AITC) also contested from Krishnanagar. In Tamluk, Abhijit Gangopadhyay represented the BJP. The Baharampur constituency saw a three-way contest between Yusuf Pathan (AITC), Nirmal Kumar Saha (BJP), and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (INC). In Kolkata Uttar, Sudip Bandyopadhyay (AITC), Tapas Roy (BJP), and Pradip Bhattacharya (INC) were the main contenders. Lastly, Shatrughan Sinha represented AITC in the Asansol constituency.
The election results will be announced on June 4, 2024. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal, the TMC won 22 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, while the BJP gained notable momentum with 18 seats. Congress won two seats.
The main parties vying for seats in West Bengal include the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and a coalition of Left Front and Indian National Congress.
The model code of conduct came into effect from March 16 and will continue until the completion of the vote counting process on June 4.