BJP Losing Big Ticket Bengal Polls; Here’s Scenario In Other States & UT

The West Bengal elections result, the most awaited among the three other states and a Union Territory that went to polls in March and April, is likely to be announced by Sunday evening as counting of votes is underway.

Early leads show that the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) is headed for a big win with Mamata Banerjee’s party leading in over 200 seats. As of now, the BJP is ahead in nearly 80 seats, according to trends on the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) website.

Mamata is looking to win the third term in West Bengal as the chief minister while the opposition BJP has vowed to win more than 200 seats.

The fight for the Nandigram Assembly constituency is so far the most interesting as the TMC supremo is contesting from this seat for the first time and is trailing behind BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, who was once her close aide.

Here’s how the scenario looks in the other states and UT that also went to polls:

Tamil Nadu: Return Of DMK

With the DMK-led alliance in the lead in a majority of Tamil Nadu’s 234 Assembly constituencies, the party is expected to capture power in the state after a gap of 10 years.

According to ECI data, the DMK is leading in 117 seats. Of its allies, Congress leads in 13 seats, the CPI, the CPI-M and the VCK in two seats each, taking the tally to 136 seats, as against the halfway mark of 118 seats.

On the other hand, the ruling AIADMK along with its ally BJP was leading in 99 seats.

Assam: BJP’s Second Coming

The ruling BJP-led NDA in Assam is leading in 77 assembly seats, while the Grand Alliance spearheaded by the Congress is ahead in 40 constituencies, according to the trends available in the ECI website.

The BJP is leading in 62 seats, and its partners — Asom Gana Parishad is ahead in 10 and United People’s Party, Liberal in seven constituencies. Congress candidates are leading in 26 seats, while those of its ally AIUDF in 11 and Bodoland People’s Front in three.

The majority mark in Assam is 64. The BJP is looking to create history in the state by becoming the only non-Congress government to win consecutive terms.

However, for the saffron party, this election was very different from the other states as Assam was the only place where it was fighting to retain power.

Kerala: Left Set To Break 40-Year Jinx

Trends during the first few hours of counting in the Kerala Assembly election show that the CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) has a clear edge over principal rivals Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

According to ECI data, the ruling LDF is leading in 92 seats, UDF in 46 seats and BJP in 2 seats. Many contests are extremely tight and therefore the tallies may differ slightly. In the 140-member Assembly, the magic number for a majority is 71.

If these trends hold and the LDF wins, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will break the state’s four-decade-old jinx of an incumbent not getting re-elected.

Puducherry: Saffron Party Set To Dethrone Congress

The Puducherry Assembly has 30 seats, and the BJP is contesting nine in alliance with the AINR Congress, which has 16 candidates in the fray. Five candidates of the AIADMK too are in the alliance. Three seats will have nominated members.

The ruling UPA alliance has the Congress contesting on 14 seats, the DMK on 13, while the CPI and the Dalit party VCK are sharing one seat each.

As per the latest trends, the BJP-AINR Congress was leading in 11 seats and the ruling combine was leading in just 6.

If the trends hold true, then BJP will wrest power from the incumbent Congress in the Union Territory.