New Delhi: After a long hiatus of 1.5 months, the 7th phase of polling concludes with 57 seats for the 18th Lok Sabha elections. Like last year, West Bengal has become the epicentre of a hot political feud between the ruling Trinamool Congress and an increasingly menacing Bharatiya Janta Party.
Naturally, this time the Bharatiya Janta Party has left no stone unturned to oust the incumbent Trinamool Congress from the state. From the Sandeshkhali incident to the changing loyalties of many former TMC leaders like Tapas Roy to the relentless ED raids which have been put under the rope by the TMC, the BJP has tried everything to change the political geography of the state.
However, Trinamool has fought back the opposition with equal vigour and determination. Although, the fight in the state is between the TMC and BJP, the old guards of the state: CPI(M) and INC are viewing a dramatic change to their electoral past.
West Bengal Exit Polls Results 2024
Here are the exit poll results of West Bengal’s 42 Lok Sabha seats as released by major organisations
#TCPoll
West Bengal LS 2024
Seat Projection
BJP 24 ± 5 Seats
AITC 17 ± 5 Seats
Congress+ 1 ± 1 Seats
Others NIL#News24TodaysChanakyaAnalysis@news24tvchannel— Today's Chanakya (@TodaysChanakya) June 1, 2024
Key Battles To Watch Out For
There are many closely contested seats in this year’s Lok Sabha polls which can determine the political geography of Bengal for the next 5 years. These are:
- Murshidabad– Murshidabad will be a battleground between TMC’s Abu Taher Khan and CPI(M)’s Mohammad Salim. It will be interesting which side will come out on top.
- Basirhat– The talk of the town this election has been “sandeshkhali” which falls under the Basirhat constituency. Naturally, the big fight between TMC’s Haji Nurul Islam and BJP’s Rekha Patra will not be only a normal electoral battle but a prestige fight.
- Barrackpore– Talking about prestige fights, Barrackpore is not going to shy away from one as the heavyweights Partha Bhowmick (TMC) take on the party deserter Arjun Singh (BJP)
- Jadavpur– Another brewing electoral battle will be between the young guns of Jadavpur where Srijan Bhattacharya of CPI(M) takes on Saayoni Ghosh of TMC.
- Kolkata Uttar– In Kolkata Uttar, the fight will be between former TMC party member Tapas Roy who will take on five-time winning MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay
- Tamluk– In Tamluk, a three-way fight between Sayan Banerjee of CPI(M) vs Abhijeet Ganguly of BJP vs Debangshu Bhattacharya of TMC is on the cards.
Lok Sabha election results for West Bengal in 2019
Last time the TMC won 22 seats out of the total 42 seats the BJP won 18 seats while the INC-CPI(M) alliance won 2 seats. It was seen as a thumping victory for the saffron army who had won just 2 seats in the previous Lok Sabha elections. Now, with many key members of the TMC like Tapas Ray trading their allegiance, can BJP make a resounding victory to capture the entire East India.