Trinamool Congress is leading on 24 seats in West Bengal as the counting of votes in the Lok Sabha polls is progressing, as per the Election Commission.
West Bengal contributes 42 Lok Sabha seats in the 543-member Parliament. As Bharatiya Janata Party's main focus was to dislodge Mamata Banerjee from West Bengal and even targeted the TMC government over Sandeshkhali, but the trends till 11 am showed that BJP is leading on 11 seats.
The Trinamool Congress is leading on 24 seats, BJP on 7 and Congress on 3 and CPI(M) on one seat, as per the ECI.Prominent leaders from TMC who are leading in West Bengal include Trinamool Congress General Secretary and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew, Abhishek Banerjee, in Diamond Harbour; Sayani Ghosh in Jadavpur; Mala Roy in Kolkata Dakshin.
BJP, during its election campaign, attacked the TMC government for corruption and indulging in appeasement politics.
Referring to the Calcutta HC decision scrapping OBC certificates, PM Modi accused Trinamool Congress of appeasing the "Muslim vote bank" as he also targeted Congress saying the "politics of appeasement is crossing every limit" and "Khan Market gang paap ki bhagidar hai.
"Strict security measures have been implemented to ensure the smooth counting of votes for more than 8,000 candidates in this general election. Vote counting commenced at 8 pm today.
Most of the exit polls have predicted BJP getting more seats than the TMC in West Bengal.
The exit poll outcome was declared after the conclusion of polling for the seventh and final phase of Lok Sabha polls on Saturday.
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.
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. Congress won only 2 seats.
Earlier, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said that a "very robust system" has been put in place. "There are around 10.5 lakh booths. Each booth will have 14 tables. There are observers and micro-observers. Nearly, 70-80 lakh people are involved in the process," he said.
Results of the Assembly elections in Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh were held simultaneously with voting for the 543-member Lok Sabha. Results of 175 Assembly constituencies in Andhra Pradesh and 147 Assembly constituencies in Odisha and results of bypolls in 25 Assembly constituencies will also be declared today.
The Lok Sabha elections were conducted in seven phases- on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1.