TMC not only holding fort but gaining in Bengal, BJP distant second

Initial trends show the Trinamool Congress (TMC) is not only holding fort in West Bengal, but gaining against the BJP.

Latest figures show that out of the state’s 42 seats, the TMC is leading on 32, the BJP on nine and the Congress on one. In 2019, the TMC had won 22 seats, while the BJP won 18 and the Congress two.

TMC No. 2 Abhishek Banerjee, its candidate from Diamond Harbour, has a comfortable lead of over 96,000 votes, while the party’s Sayani Ghosh is leading over the BJP candidate in Jadavpur by over 20,000 votes, with the CPI(M)’s much-vaunted youth candidate Srijan Bhattacharya a distant third.

The TMC’s Partha Bhowmik is leading on the prickly Barrackpore seat, against the BJP’s Arjun Singh, a TMC turncoat. Mahua Moitra is leading in Krishnanagar, and Kalyan Banerjee in Serampore, both against their respective nearest BJP rivals.

Sudip Banerjee in Kolkata Uttar and Kakali Ghosh Dastidar in Barasat are well ahead, after two rounds of counting.

BJP candidate S S Ahluwalia leads in Asansol against TMC’s star candidate Shatrughan Sinha. Shantanu Thakur, the BJP candidate in Bongaon, is also ahead. Saumitra Khan, the BJP candidate in Bishnupur, and Jyotirmoy Singh Mahato, its candidate in Purulia, are also ahead. But in Basirhat, Rekha Patra of Sandeshkhali fame is trailing.

The Congress’s Adhir Chowdhury is trailing by a small margin in Baharampur against the TMC’s Yusuf Pathan. The party’s Isha Khan Chowdhury is also leading in their bastion, Malda Dakshin.

The CPI(M), which is gaining in vote share, is yet to take the lead anywhere.

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