West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday claimed that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) will win more than 200 seats, while accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of misleading people with “fictitious” exit poll results for financial gains, senior party leaders said.
“Banerjee said that the TMC will win more than 200 seats this time. She also said that exit polls were nothing but an attempt to manipulate the stock market. She accused the BJP of scamming people with fictitious exit polls and making huge money. They did it in 2021, 2024 and are now repeating the same thing,” a senior TMC leader said.
The results of the recently held West Bengal Assembly elections will be announced on Monday.
“She also said that not a single general observer or police observer (appointed by the Election Commission) would be able to get away. They are thinking that they will be able to run away to their own states after May 4. She warned of legal action against each one of them who indulged in anti-constitutional acts. She said that they would be dragged to court,” said another leader present at the meeting.
TMC MP and the party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, who also addressed the meeting, said that the party would return to power for the fourth time, winning more seats compared to 2021. The party had won 213 seats in the last Assembly elections, while the BJP had bagged 77 seats.
“I want to put this on record — TMC will get more seats in comparison to 2021,” a TMC leader said, quoting Abhishek Banerjee.
The TMC chief directed party workers to guard the strongrooms and counting centres and not to leave until the winning candidate is handed over the certificate.
On Thursday, a political row erupted when the TMC alleged that unidentified persons were seen inside a strongroom at Khudiram Anushilan Kendra in central Kolkata.
TMC leaders staged a sit-in protest outside the facility, where EVMs from seven North Kolkata Assembly constituencies and postal ballots were stored. BJP leaders also reached the spot, leading to a heated confrontation.
Mamata Banerjee also visited a strongroom at Sakhawat Memorial Government Girls’ High School in south Kolkata, where EVMs of the Bhabanipur Assembly constituency were kept. She remained there for nearly four hours from around 9 pm on Thursday.
West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal dismissed the allegations at a late-night press conference on Thursday, asserting that the EVMs were safe and secure.
The BJP also held separate workshops in its organisational districts ahead of the counting day. The party’s central and state leaders, including Bhupendra Yadav, Union minister, and Samik Bhattacharya, state BJP president, addressed the meetings.
“Two days back she said the TMC would win more than 226 seats. Now it has come down to 200. As the counting day approaches, her tally is going down. On the counting day, the TMC will be wiped out. TMC workers know very well that the party is not returning to power. As a result, they don’t want to go to the counting centres. She is trying to boost them by making false claims. She is warning of legal action against observers just to create pressure on them so that they act in her favour. These are clear signals that the TMC is going this time,” said Rahul Sinha, senior BJP leader.
