West Bengal Elections Witness High Voter Turnout Amidst Intense Political Battle

With the fifth phase of elections on Monday, May 20, voting will be completed on 25 seats in Bengal. There are a total of 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state. Voting will be held on the remaining 17 seats in the next two phases - May 25 and June 1.

In all five phases so far, more voting has been recorded in West Bengal than in other parts of the country. It is generally believed that more voting is a sign of an anti-incumbency wave. The trend of voting in Bengal is not new.

Photo Credit: PTI

This time, low voting in other states has been a cause of concern. However, Bengal, Assam, Tripura, and Andhra Pradesh have shown more courage in this matter. Bengal has the most seats after UP and Maharashtra. The importance of Bengal increases among these states because it has 42 Lok Sabha seats.

If BJP touched the figure of 303 seats in 2019, it included the 18 seats it got unexpectedly in Bengal. BJP does not need to complain in Bengal like before. This time, the main opposition party BJP is contesting the elections in Bengal by making atrocities on women, the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), and corruption the biggest issues.

Although no phase has been completed without violence in Bengal, the BJP is not making the kind of allegations related to elections on the ruling TMC as seen before. All senior leaders of the BJP seem satisfied with the voting done so far in Bengal. Not only BJP leaders but also veteran election strategists are indicating a wind of change blowing in Bengal this time.

BJP is claiming a big victory in Bengal. Recently, senior BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah expressed the possibility of a very good performance of BJP in the state. He said, "We will get 24 to 30 seats in Bengal." Earlier, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha also claimed a big victory for BJP in Bengal.

He said, "I got the opportunity to campaign for the party in West Bengal, where we saw tremendous enthusiasm among voters towards BJP. I am confident that the party will win 32 out of 42 Lok Sabha seats." On the other hand, TMC supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee are raising questions about the Election Commission releasing voting figures later this time.

This delay is due to voting through a ballot at home for the elderly above 85 years and disabled people. But Mamata has expressed concern over the voting percentage being updated only after the first two phases. She said, "In figures released earlier by the Election Commission, a sudden jump of about 5.75% in final turnout is worrying."

Due to many EVMs being missing for a long time, there is fear of manipulation of results by the BJP. Mamata Banerjee claims citizenship will be taken away due to CAA. It seems she fears losing support due to this law's implementation.

Election analyst Prashant Kishore is also predicting in favour of BJP. In a recent interview with RTV, he reaffirmed his claim that the BJP is likely to get more seats than before in West Bengal as well as Odisha, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh.

Before elections started, he predicted that BJP would become the largest party in West Bengal this time. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has held many meetings in West Bengal this year. He started political meetings before election dates were announced.

He targeted the TMC government on incidents like Sandeshkhali. By implementing CAA just before announcing dates, the BJP played a card it had kept safe for five years. In his rally speech in Medinipur on Sunday, PM Modi hinted at many things.

He said, "This storm of BJP has started demolishing all forts of terror of TMC. This is why TMC people have become nervous. Now just one more attack is needed on May 25." He added that it would not take long for TMC's fort of terror, atrocities and corruption to fall again in Bengal.