West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has reacted to the exit poll results forecast for the state Assembly elections, accusing the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party of “fixing” them.
Banerjee expressed confidence that the TMC will form the government after the results of the Bengal Assembly elections are announced on May 4. She also said that her party would not allow “any horseplay during the counting of votes.”
“BJP office exit polls. Figures are fabricated, aimed at demoralizing TMC workers,” Banerjee said in a video message, alleging that raids were conducted in her constituency, Bhabanipur, “throughout the night.”
“The BJP has played the end game. The stock markets would have crashed if the real numbers were published. People need to stick together, monitor the count closely… and stay awake all night,” she said, adding that she would guard the EVM rooms herself if necessary.
“They are planning to swap the electronic voting machines… Until I hold a press conference and announce, don’t leave the counting tables… They may change the data in the computers, give us our numbers for the BJP and BJP, and I will go myself to the counting hall, and I can do it as a candidate. You have gone through a lot. Please bear more to save Bengal,” she said.
Several opposition leaders across states have recently called for powerful EVM chambers to be guarded, amid fears of irregularities.
“We will return to power by winning more than 226 of the 294 seats in the House of Representatives in Bengal,” the Prime Minister added.
What the exit polls predicted in West Bengal
According to Matrez, TMC+ may fall short of the majority mark by a few seats, winning between 125 and 140 constituencies. He gave the BJP an edge, predicting that it may win 146-161 seats, indicating a close contest between the two major parties.
A similar forecast was made by pollster P-Marq, which said the BJP is expected to lead in 150-175 seats, while the incumbent Trinamool Congress may win 118-138 seats. He also expected that other parties would be able to obtain between two and six seats.
Exit polls Diary has predicted a clear win for the BJP, indicating that the party may win 142-171 seats, while the TMC may fall well short of the majority mark with just 99-127 seats.
However, pollster People’s Pulse has given a different forecast, suggesting that the current TMC government may retain power in the state, though its tally may fall to 177-187 seats from the current 215 seats in the assembly. It expected the BJP to get 95-110 seats.
