West Bengal Election: Trinamool Congress Suffers Setbacks as Exit Polls Favor BJP

With just three days to go for the West Bengal Assembly election results to be declared, the ruling Trinamool Congress suffered three major setbacks in just 24 hours. On the one hand, the party suffered a major setback in most of the exit polls. On the other hand, Bhabanipur, considered a stronghold of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, witnessed high drama on Thursday night with the Election Commission of India dismissing TMC's allegations of EVM tampering. After the second phase of polling on Wednesday evening, April 29, exit polls came out, with 6 out of 7 predicting a Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday alleged that exit poll predictions were aired'at the behest of the BJP'to demoralise TMC workers. She exuded confidence that the ruling party would win more than 226 of the 294 Assembly seats in the state elections. The Calcutta High Court on Thursday dismissed a petition challenging the Election Commission's decision to appoint central observers as counting observers in the West Bengal Assembly elections.