West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) increased its vote share by over 2% in the state in the recently-held Lok Sabha elections, the Election Commission of India's (ECI) data shows.
The Mamata Banerjee-led party won 29 seats, increasing its tally by seven seats from the previous 2019 national polls. Its vote share too went up from 43.7% to 45.77%, a difference of 2.07%.
Also Read: Understanding TMC’s surprise 29-seat romp in West Bengal
On the other hand, the BJP, the principal opposition party in the state, saw its vote share fall to 38.73% as compared to 40.6% that it received five years earlier, a drop of 1.87%. The saffron party's tally of seats, on the other hand, went from an unprecedented 18 in 2019 to 12 now.
The Trinamool's performance came in the backdrop of almost all exit polls predicting that the BJP will finally go past the former in West Bengal; a few exit polls even predicted up to 30 seats for the BJP.
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That the exit polls went wrong in West Bengal was a repeat of the 2021 assembly elections, when several such polls projected that Mamata Banerjee, seeking a third term as chief minister, would get voted out, paving the way for a BJP government in the state. While Banerjee narrowly lost as a candidate, against her former aide, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, from the Nandigram assembly seat, an Adhikari bastion, the Trinamool won the state, and Banerjee became chief minister for a third successive time.
Also Read: After Bengal, Left loses grip in its south bastion
{{/usCountry}}That the exit polls went wrong in West Bengal was a repeat of the 2021 assembly elections, when several such polls projected that Mamata Banerjee, seeking a third term as chief minister, would get voted out, paving the way for a BJP government in the state. While Banerjee narrowly lost as a candidate, against her former aide, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, from the Nandigram assembly seat, an Adhikari bastion, the Trinamool won the state, and Banerjee became chief minister for a third successive time.
Also Read: After Bengal, Left loses grip in its south bastion
{{/usCountry}}West Bengal sends 42 members to the 543-member Lok Sabha, the highest after Uttar Pradesh (80) and Maharashtra (48).
(With PTI inputs)