Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday asserted that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will win at least 110 seats in the first phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections and form the government in the state.
“The first phase of elections has just been held. Do you want to know what the result will be? The first phase of elections has just been held,” Shah said, while addressing an election rally in Jamalpur in East Midnapore. Do you want to know what the result will be? The BJP will win 110 seats and eliminate the Mamata Banerjee regime. The Bharatiya Janata Party will form the government.”
West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026
Polling for 152 Assembly seats in the first phase was held on April 23, while the remaining 142 seats will go to the polls in the second phase on April 29. With only two days remaining before the end of the election campaign for the second phase, political parties intensified their outreach over the weekend.
Highlighting the incidents that took place at Sandeshkhali, R G Kar Medical College, Durgapur Medical College, Shah alleged that women were not safe during the Trinamool Congress (TMC) rule.
“Under TMC rule, women in West Bengal were not safe. Mamata Didi says that after 7 pm, mothers and sisters should not step out of their homes. Mamata Banerjee, instead of intimidating criminals, is intimidating our sisters. Being the chief minister, Mamata has failed to ensure safety and security of women in the state,” she said.
She also criticized Union Home Minister Banerjee over her opposition to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA), accusing her government of depriving dead community members of citizenship rights.
“Didi is not allowing the CAA to be implemented. You are forming a lotus government and after May 5, the BJP government will ensure that every brother and sister from the Matua community gets citizenship,” he said.
Meanwhile, he lashed out at Banerjee over her plans to file a “legal case” against him for “violent remarks” and said the TMC leader continues to lose in court and will continue to do so.
“Mamata Banerjee keeps talking. She keeps losing in court. She will continue to do so. We are in the audience, and the people of Bengal will have to decide on the 29th,” he said.
“What does Mamata Banerjee want to say? Should goons be respected? She (Mamata Banerjee) has a plan to respect those who trouble the public,” he added.
Yogi and Himanta Sarma campaign in Bengal
Several senior BJP leaders, including Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, also campaigned in the state.
“It will not be a surprise if the BJP wins over 200 seats in West Bengal. The nearly 93 per cent voter turnout in the first phase showed that there is no atmosphere of fear that earlier prevented people from openly supporting the BJP,” Sarma said at a press conference in Kolkata.
Meanwhile, Adityanath on Saturday asserted that West Bengal, known as the cultural and intellectual capital of India, will be freed from what he described as the “syndition” of the Trinamool Congress, the Congress and the Communists.
“With the completion of 150 years of Vande Mataram, I believe Bengal will be liberated from the TMC, the Congress and the communists – there is no doubt about that,” Adityanath said at a rally at Bagdah in North 24 Parganas district.
