PremiumRuling party TMC bags 22 seats this time in West Bengal while BJP gets 18 seats and Congress takes hold of two seats in the state. Meanwhile, CPI(M) did not get a single seat this time. This has happened for the first time since the foundation of the party in Bengal in 1964.
This shows BJP made stunning inroads in Trinamool Congress-ruled state, showing a virtual saffron sweep in the state's northern parts, as also the western tribal heartland. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's party managed to hold on to its ground in and around Kolkata and a major chunk of the south Bengal. TMC won only by three seats from BJP. For the very first time, the state saw this kind of result. Historically, the two major parties of Bengal were CPI(M) and TMC. This result somehow shows that both the parties are losing ground in the state somehow.
Elections started on 11 April in Bengal and the last phase voted on 19 May.
Going back to the last Lok Sabha election, Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress could do little in the state. Among the 42 seats in the state, the BJP has at present only 2 seats with the Congress having 4 seats. The Marxist Communist Party has won from 2 places and the remaining 34 seats are with the All India Trinamool Congress.
This year Bengal did not witness a peaceful election. Right from the beginning, several reports of violence were reported from various parts. West Bengal was the only state where the Election Commission ordered to complete the campaign before time following an agitation last week. The state government was asked to wrap up the campaign by 16 May.
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Though Mamata Banerjee wins majority in Bengal with 22 seats, BJP was not too far from her party. As Prime Minister is ready to serve for the second term, his party wins massive 18 seats in Bengal showing a beginning of paradigm shift in the state. Among other parties, Indian National Congress (INC) bagged only 2 seats while CPI(M) did not open a single book this time.
The 2019 Lok Sabha polls will be the first time since 1952 that the Left Front will not end up with double digits in the general election.
Election Commission data shows, Trinamool Congress is leading by 25 seats while BJP gets 16 seats so far.
The latest report from Election Commission shows, Trinmool Congress is leading with 22 votes while BJP takes 19 seats, so far.
The chief minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee tweeted in the afternoon to congratulate the winner. Says, "Let the counting process be completed fully and the VVPATs matched."
According to Election Commission data, BJP gets 17 seats till now, while Trinamool Congress leads by 24 seats.
BJP supporters distribute sweets in all over Kolkata, following the result.
TMC- 45%
BJP- 39%
Left- 7%
Congress- 5%
As the final tally for West Bengal inches forward, BJP has dealt a massive blow to the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC in the state, raking up a seat share of 16 out of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
Up from its previous tally of just two seats, the BJP’s current tally with a vote share of 38.9% as against the TMC’s vote share of 45.1% and 25 seats, has proved to be a massive victory for the saffron party. BJP is leading in some of the key constituencies in the state such as Asansol where BJP Member of Parliament Babul Supriyo is contesting against TMC’s Moon Moon Sen, according to the Election Commission of India. (Reported by Shaswati Das)
At 10:30 am, in the early phase of counting, ruling party Trinamool Congress (TMC) takes a lead with 23 seats. BJP gets 15 seats followed by Congress with three seats. Meanwhile, Left did not get a single seat so far.
Coochbehar, Jangipur, DumDum, Diamond Harbour, Jadavpur, Jalpaiguri, Barasat, Jaynagar, Kanthi, Tamluk, Sreerampur, Howrah, Maldah Dakshin, Bardhwan, Basirhat, Birbhum, Bolpur
With 22 votes, TMC leads in Bengal. Meanwhile, BJP is ahead in 17 seats.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leads in Ranaghat, Puruliya, Malda and Barrackpur.
TMC extends lead to 5 seats, BJP ahead in 4 in north Bengal
TMC takes lead in Jaynagar, Barasat, Birbhum and Purba Bardhaman seats of south Bengal
After leading in Bolpur and Birbhum, TMC now takes a front foot in Krishnanagar and south Bengal's Tamluk
Trinamool Congress takes lead in Maldaha Uttar and Baharampur
TMC takes lead in Bolpur and Birbhum
Close fight between Congress and TMC in Baharampur
The Election Commission on Tuesday ordered re-polling at a booth in Kolkata's Uttar parliamentary constituency. EC declared void the poll held on 19 May at polling station number 200 of the Kolkata's Uttar parliamentary constituency.
The re-polling will be conducted on Wednesday, 22 May from 7 am to 6 pm. BJP's Rahul Sinha, TMC's Sudip Bandyopadhyay, and CPI(M)'s Kaninika Bose Ghosh are in the fray from Kolkata Uttar constituency.
The humdrum of everyday life does not betray the palpable tension that courses through West Bengal, a day before the fates of both the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will be sealed in the state.
Local shops that dot the city crank up the volume of the transistors, with shop owners keeping their ears peeled for snatches of news. The state witnessed a bitter, acerbic battle between the two parties that left in its wake unprecedented poll violence, a vandalised statue of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and a sharp crackdown by the Election Commission, cutting shot campaign time in the state by an entire day.
While state chief minister Mamata Banerjee had dismissed the exit polls on Sunday as “gossip," she reiterated that “the game plan is to manipulate or replace thousands of EVMs through this gossip."
“We are targeting a 39% vote share. Last year in the Panchayat elections, we retained 35% vote share. The TMC’s support on ground has reduced drastically which is why they are resorting to violence and booth capturing and arm twisting voters," senior BJP leader Dilip Ghosh told Mint, in Kolkata. (Reported by Shaswati Das)
According to news reports, the Central forces had recorded 337 incidents of major violence and malpractices. The maximum cases of violations were recorded during the third and sixth phases. As per the report by the central agencies, maximum incidents of violence were reported from Coochbehar, Alipurduar , East Midnapore, Murshidabad , North 24 Parganas and Howrah.
A total of 710 companies of central forces were being deployed by the Election Commission to cover 17,042 polling booths to ensure free and fair voting. The nine constituencies were spread across the three districts of Kolkata, South and North 24 Parganas.
Except for Jadavpur, eight seats of Bengal witnessed a four-cornered contest the ruling TMC, BJP, Congress and the CPI(M). The Congress did not have any candidate from the Jadavpur constituency.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and sitting MP, Abhishek Banerjee, was among one of the major candidates from Bengal. He was looking to get re-elected from Diamond Harbour constituency where he had to contest against BJP’s Nilanjan Roy, CPI(M)’s Faud Halim and the Soumya Aich from the Congress.
In the Jadavpur seat, newly introduced TMC's celebrity candidate Mimi Chakraborty contested against Anupam Hazra of the BJP. The CPI(M) had fielded senior leader Bikash RanjanBhattacharya. Another fresh face was introduced in Basirhat Lok Sabha seat by TMC- tollywood actress Nusrat Jahan fighting against BJP's Sayantan Basu.
The Congress had nominated Quazi Abdur Rahim and the Left Front constituent CPI, Pallab Sengupta. In the Dum Dum seat, the BJP has fielded Samik Bhattacharya against sitting TMC MP Saugata Ray. Left Front-major CPI(M) had nominated Nepaldeb Bhattacharya, while Saurav Saha contested from the Congress.
TMC MP Kakoli Ghoshdastidar fought against BJP's Mrinal Kanti Debnath in Barasat, where the Congress had nominated Subrata Dutta and Left Front Constituent All IndiaForward Bloc, Haripada Biswas.
In Kolkata North, Sudip Bandyopadhyay contested against Rahul Sinha, the BJP national secretary. The CPI(M)had fielded Kaninika Bose and the Congress, Syed Shahid Imam.
Kolkata South witnessed Mala Roy of the TMC battling it out against against BJP's Chandra Kumar Bose. TheCPI(M) has nominated Nandini Mukherjee and the Congress Mita Chakraborty.
In this election, West Bengal recorded total voting of around 80 to 82% in all the seven phases.
In 2014 Lok Sabha election, Mamata Banerjee's party Trinamool Congress won the majority with 37 seats. Indian National Congress (INC) won four seats followed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and CPI(M) with two each seat in their pocket. It was a clear win for Banerjee in 2014. This year it is yet to see will the ruling party get so many seats.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s state voted in seven phases. The first phase of the election held on April 11 where Coochbehar and Alipurduars constituency went on the poll. This was followed by elections in Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling, Raiganj, the second phase, on April 18.
The third phase included constituencies of Balurghat, Maldaha Uttar, Maldaha Dakshin, Jangipur and Murshidabad which voted on April 23. Baharampur, Krishnanagar, Ranaghat, Bardhaman Purba, Bardhaman-Durgapur, Asansol, Bolpur, Birbhum was in the fourth phase which voted on April 29. In the fifth phase which took place on May 6, places like Bangaon, Barrackpur, Howrah, Uluberia, Sreerampur, Hooghly, Arambag cast their vote.
The sixth phase included places like Tamluk, Kanthi, Ghatal, Jhargram, Medinipur, Purulia, Bankura, Bishnupur on May 12. Nine constituencies in West Bengal including Kolkata (North and South), Jadavpur, Diamond Harbour, Mathurapur, Joynagar, Basirhat, Barasat and Dumdum voted in the last phase on Sunday.
As per the exit poll reports, the ruling party is expected to get around 24 to 28 seats this year. The reports also show that though Mamata Banerjee will win the election in the state it is likely that the party may lose a number of seats in the Lok Sabha. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is expected to make a massive gain in the state and may get at least 14 seats from the state.
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