: The TMC raced ahead of its rivals, leading in 31 seats after several rounds of counting, while the BJP led in 10, and Congress in one, even as it took an insurmountable lead in many seats, according to the Election Commission website. The party is set for second best performance in the state after 2014 when it had won 34 seats. Till 1 pm, the party bagged 47 per cent votes, up from 43 per cent in 2019.
In the last LS polls, the TMC had won 22 seats. BJP’s hope to make its strongest political statement from the Sandeshkhali-inclusive Basirhat Lok Sabha constituency looked to have been dashed to the ground as its candidate Rekha Patra was outsmarted by TMC veteran Haji Nurul Islam who has been leading with a margin 3,33,547. The alleged incidents of sexual atrocities on the local women, and land-grab in Sandeshkhali, one of the seven assembly segments of Basirhat, seem to have failed to deliver the BJP the coveted win from the seat.
For the voters at large of the Basirhat constituency, having one of West Bengal’s most porous stretches of international border with Bangladesh, the issues of Sandeshkhali were “very local” and did not appeal to them, poll experts felt. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, emboldened by the Lok Sabha election performance of her TMC and the I.N.
D.I.A.
bloc partners, claimed on Tuesday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had lost his credibility and magic and hence should resign, accepting moral defeat, along with union home minister Am.