ECI West Bengal results LIVE: TMC closing in with 107 seats against BJP's 150 in West Bengal

ECI West Bengal results LIVE: The Bharatiya Janata Party has taken lead in early trends in West Bengal, according to analytical firm Pvalue. The early trends started to come in shortly after counting of votes began at 8 am today. The West Bengal assembly polls were held in two phases on April 23 and April 29 and the results for them will be out today following a heated campaigning battle between the incumbent Trinamool Congress (TMC), led by chief minister Mamata Banerjee, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). While the TMC is aiming for a historic fourth term in the state, the BJP is looking to create history by winning in Bengal for the first time. Apart from the main rivals, BJP and TMC, other political parties are also in fray in West Bengal assembly polls, including Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

The counting for 293 seats has begun. The ECI ordered repolling in Falta constituency on May 21.

With no surprises, polling in Bengal saw several incidents of violence, particularly between workers of both the rival parties and also reports of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) tampering. This led to repolling across 15 booths in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district in Diamond Harbour and Magrahat Paschim on May 2, just two days ahead of counting. The decision of repolling was taken by the Election Commission of India following reports of EVM tampering during the second phase of polling held on Thursday, April 29.

Track live updates of West Bengal results in Hindi here

Bengal has a total of 294 constituencies, out of which, 152 seats went to polls in the first phase on April 23 and the rest 142 seats voted in the second phase on April 29.

EC orders repoll in Falta on May 21

The Election Commission of India on Saturday ordered repolling across all 285 polling stations in West Bengal’s Falta assembly constituency following severe electoral offences and subversion of the democratic process during the polling that was held in the second and final phase on April 29. The repolling will be held on May 21 between 7 am and 6 pm across all poll booths, including auxiliary polling stations.

The votes of repolling in Falta will be counted on May 24. Voter turnout of 87.6 per cent was recorded in Magrahat Paschim and 86.11 per cent in Diamond Harbour till 5 pm after repolling, leading to a combined voter turnout of 86.9 per cent.

Record voter turnout in West Bengal

Polling in West Bengal during both the phases saw record voter turnout of over 90 per cent. During phase 1, Bengal recorded a whopping 93.19 per cent turnout and during phase 2, the voter turnout was 91.66 per cent. This means that the combined voter turnout in Bengal was 92.47 per cent.

EVM tampering allegations

The election commission received several complaints of EVM tampering during the second phase of polling in West Bengal. The poll body received at least 77 complaints related to EVM tampering during the second phase of voting, out of which, an official said that 32 came from Falta, 13 were received from Magrahat, 29 were received from Diamond Harbour, and three were received from Budge Budge.

Giving a glimpse into the allegations of EVM tampering, EC officials said that the buttons of a political party on EVMs were found covered with adhesive tape or blackened with ink, which prevented voters from casting their votes. In other cases, attar was applied to the buttons so that anyone pressing them could be identified by rival parties.

Mamata vs Suvendhu in Bhabanipur | Track live updates here

Among the key candidates in fray in the West Bengal assembly polls is chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who is contesting from Bhabanipur and will face BJP's Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari in a high-stakes battle. She won the seat in 2021 with a margin of around 58,000 votes and has now claimed that after the Special Intensive Revision, around 51,000 voters have been deleted from the constituency.