Exit polls by two major Bengali news channels gave the LF 38-39 seats, followed by 10-13 to the Congress and five-to-seven to the Trinamul.
KOLKATA: The fourth phase of polling in West Bengal was completed peacefully on Wednesday in the three districts of Murshidabad, Burdwan and Birbhum, with exit polls indicating that the ruling Left Front may lose a bit of ground.
About 76 per cent of the 9.3 million voters exercised their franchise. Exit polls by two major Bengali news channels gave the Left Front 38-39 seats, followed by 10-13 to the Congress and five-to-seven to the Trinamul Congress. The polling was held in 57 constituencies. The West Bengal assembly has 294 members.
The exit poll by Star Ananda-AC Nielson forecast, after covering the fourth phase, 38 seats for the Left Front, 13 for the Congress and five for the Trinamul.
Another by Kolkata TV-ORG Marg gave 39, 10 and seven seats respectively to the three political forces. Both gave one seat to smaller groups. In the 2001 polls, the Left Front had won 42 seats.
If exit polls are correct then the opposition Congress is all set to improve its tally of 2001 while it would be status quo for Mamta Banerjee’s Trinamul Congress.
Extrapolating the exit polls for the 244 seats where voting has been completed, across the total 294 constituencies in the state, the AC Nielsen-Star Ananda survey predicts a total 208 seats for the Left Front, up from 199 in the last assembly, Trinamul Congress 44, down from 60 and the Congress improving its position to 33 from 26.
The CPI (M) politburo member and the state secretary of the party’s West Bengal unit, Biman Bose, however, refused to agree with the exit poll projection.
“There is no chance of decrease in the number of winning seats. If there is change it will be positive for us,” Bose said. The Trinamul Congress General Secretary, Mukul Roy also refused to accept the exit poll projections and said that the Trinamul will gain at least double in comparison to what has been projected.
The Election Commission said the polling was peaceful. Of the 57 seats, 19 fell in Murshidabad, 26 in Burdwan and 12 in Birbhum district.
“No untoward incident was reported. The turnout is very high and spontaneous. We are happy,” said Deputy Election Commissioner Anand Kumar. A total of 288 candidates, including 20 women, were in the fray in the fourth phase. The first three phases (April 17, 22 and 27) saw polling in 187 constituencies. The fifth and final phase of polling ends on May 8.
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