BJP's Tapas Roy as vote counting begins for West Bengal Assembly polls

BJP candidate from Maniktala Assembly constituency, Tapas Roy, on Monday expressed confidence in a strong performance for his party in the state assembly election.

He estimated that the BJP could win between 168 and 174 seats in West Bengal.

Speaking to ANI, Roy said, "According to my conservative assessment, we will get 168 to 174 seats. They (TMC) do not like the fact that there was no bloodshed in this election, no dead bodies were found, no blood was shed."

As counting began for high-stakes elections across 823 constituencies in four states and one Union Territory, early trends from postal ballots showed the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ahead in Assam with leads in 25 seats, while the Congress-led alliance was ahead in seven.

In Keralam, a close contest is unfolding between the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the United Democratic Front (UDF), with both sides inching past 50 leads each.

In Tamil Nadu, the DMK has taken an early lead over the AIADMK-led alliance, while in West Bengal, the pendulum has been consistently swinging in a close contest between the BJP and the TMC.

These figures reflect initial postal ballot trends, with counting of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) votes scheduled to begin at 8:30 am. The Election Commission is yet to declare any official trends.

Counting is underway across 823 constituencies in key regions, including West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Keralam, Assam, and the Union Territory of Puducherry.

The process begins with postal ballots, followed by the counting of Electronic Voting Machines from 8:30 am, with round-wise results being updated in real time on the ECINET platform and the Election Commission's official portal.

Security has been tightened across all counting centres ahead of the process.

Exit polls for West Bengal have projected a tight contest on the 294 seats between the BJP and the Trinamool Congress (TMC).

While some projections, including Chanakya Strategies and Matrize, have given an edge to the BJP, others suggest a closer fight with TMC retaining a significant share of seats. Smaller parties are also expected to play a limited role in the outcome.