West Bengal Lok Sabha Election Results 2024: Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress is closing in on a massive victory as of 8:10 pm, winning 29 seats, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) got 12 seats. The Congress got only one seat. The counting of votes in all 42 Lok Sabha seats of West Bengal is now underway. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the TMC won 22 seats, while the BJP sprung a major surprise, winning 18 seats. The Congress won the remaining two seats. The BJP dramatically increased their seats from only two in 2014 to 18 in 2019.
TMC's national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee secured a massive victory in Diamond Harbour with a margin of over 7 lakh votes, shattering state political records. TMC candidate and Bollywood actor Shatrughan Sinha won in Asansol, defeating BJP's SS Ahluwalia. In a major upset, five-time Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury faced a stunning defeat by TMC's surprise candidate Yusuf Pathan. Additionally, BJP MP Dilip Ghosh was defeated by Kirti Jha Azad in Bardhaman-Durgapur seat. Other leaders like Asit Kumar Mal, Sharmila Sarkar, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and Khalilur Rahaman won from Bolpur, Bardhaman-Purba, Barasat and Jangipur respectively.
TMC's Partha Bhowmick won from Barrackpore, Pratima Mondal won from Joynagar and Prasun Banerjee won from Howrah BJP leader Nisith Pramanik is trailing in Cooch Behar, but has maintained leads in Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri, and Darjeeling. TMC's disqualified MP Mahua Moitra is ahead of BJP's Amrita Roy in Krishnanagar. Meanwhile, Congress is leading in Maldaha Dakshin.
Among BJP candidates, Soumendu Adhikari, the brother of West Bengal Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, is ahead of TMC's Uttam Barik in Kanthi, while Sukanta Majumdar has regained his lead in Balurghat. Dr Jayanta Kumar Roy is leading in Medinipur and Jagannath Sarkar is leading in Ranaghat. Former judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay has also surged ahead in Tamluk and Saumitra Khan is leading in Bishnupur. Kartick Chandra Paul surged ahead of TMC's Krishna Kalyani in Raiganj.
With a target of securing 400 seats nationwide, the BJP launched an assertive campaign in Bengal, highlighting issues such as corruption and the recent incident in Sandeshkhali. In the 2019 elections, the BJP displayed an impressive performance in West Bengal, winning 18 seats. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has now proclaimed that Bengal will emerge as the top-performing state for his party in this election cycle.
Following a lacklustre performance in the state elections, securing only 77 out of 294 seats, the BJP is pinning its hopes on unconventional candidates like former Calcutta High Court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay and Sandeshkhali incident survivor Rekha Patra to bolster its support base.
Key candidates in West Bengal
- Mahua Moitra (AITC) - Krishnanagar
- Nisith Pramanik (BJP) - Cooch Behar
- Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (Congress) - Baharampur
- Locket Chatterjee (BJP) - Hooghly
- Yusuf Pathan (AITC) - Baharampur
- Shatrughan Sinha (AITC) - Asansol
- Priya Saha (BJP) - Bolpur
- Swapan Majumder (BJP) - Barasat
- Shantanu Thakur (BJP) - Bongaon
- Abhijit Gangopadhyay (BJP) - Tamluk
- Sujan Chakraborty (CPI(M)) - Dum Dum
- Isha Khan Choudhury (INC) - Maldaha Dakshin
- Kalipada Soren (AITC) - Jhargram
- Satabdi Roy (AITC) - Birbhum
- Priya Saha (BJP) - Bolpur
