Thiruvananthapuram (Keralam) [India], May 4 : The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) has breached the halfway mark ad per official Election Commission trends with leads in 82 seats. The Congress leads in 50 seats with its ally the Muslim League leading in 17 seats. The LDF had 51 leads.
When asked about factors behind LDF's poor performance, State Congress president Sunny Joseph said, "Anti-people policies" had led to Vijayan's rout.
Congress MP Jebi Mather said, "We have crossed 89, just 11 seats to 100. It is beyond what the exit polls had projected. People of Kerala have gifted a decisive victory to Congress-led UDF. It is a moment of excitement, exuberance, and pride. We are thakful and grateful to the people of Kerala. This is also a reflection of how the CPI(M)-led LDF was a miserable failure and the anti-incumbency factor played very well..."
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 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.
As the counting began, patrolling was being carried out with armoured vehicles in West Bengal's Malda. Meanwhile, several strong rooms swiftly opened across Keralam, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, before the beginning of counting procedure.
A verbal spat broke out between polling agents of both parties, in which TMC alleged of not allowed to take files and pen inside the counting centre; however, the same was allowed to BJP polling agents.
"They are not allowing us to take files or pens inside, but the BJP polling agents are allowed to take them inside. Rules should be the same for everyone. We are the people of Mamata Banerjee. There is no bigger identity than this," a TMC polling agent said.
On the other hand, the BJP accused the TMC polling agents of not carrying identity cards for entering the polling station.
"They are not carrying their ID cards. We are wearing our ID cards. They are creating a ruckus unnecessarily. BJP is winning with a majority in West Bengal and even in Bhabanipur," the BJP polling agent said.
Exit polls for West Bengal have projected a tight contest 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.
West Bengal recorded the highest-ever voter turnout since independence with an impressive 91.66% polling in Phase-II of the Assembly elections. In phase-I, the poll participation was 93.19%, taking the combined poll percentage to 92.47%.