Asansol (West Bengal) [India], May 4 : Clashes and violence broke out at a counting centre in Asansol on Monday as vote counting for the West Bengal Assembly elections continued across the state.
The incident took place at the Asansol Engineering College counting centre, where a scuffle between polling agents escalated into unrest. Chairs and vehicles were vandalised during the clash, prompting security personnel to resort to a lathicharge to disperse those gathered.
According to Asansol Durgapur Police Commissionerate Commissioner Pranav Kumar, miscreants targeted a political party camp, and efforts are underway to identify those involved. "A political party camp was vandalised. The people responsible for the vandalism are being identified," he said.
The violence comes as a fiercely contested election shows dramatic trends in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which has crossed the majority mark, posing a serious challenge to the All India Trinamool Congress led by Mamata Banerjee.
According to the Election Commission of India, the BJP is leading on 156 seats, while the Trinamool Congress is ahead in 86 constituencies. Its ally BGPM is leading on one seat, as per early trends.
If the trend holds, the BJP is set to form its first-ever government in West Bengal, ending over a decade of Trinamool Congress rule and marking a major political shift in the state, which also saw 34 years of Left rule prior to 2011.
West Bengal Leader of Opposition and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari expressed confidence in a decisive mandate. "The BJP will form the government with more than 180 seats," he said.
Taking a swipe at the ruling party, he added, "Rone dijiye. Khatam poora khatam."
"All Hindus are united in favour of Narendra Modi... After four rounds of counting, the BJP is forming its government. Hindu EVMs mean BJP, Muslim EVMs mean TMC, except Malda, Murshidabad and North Dinajpur, where people have voted for Congress," he added.
The state recorded one of its highest-ever voter turnouts, with 91.66 per cent polling in Phase II and 93.19 per cent in Phase I, taking the overall turnout to 92.47 per cent.
In the 2021 Assembly elections, the Trinamool Congress secured 213 seats with around 48 per cent vote share, while the BJP won 77 seats with roughly 38 per cent votes, emerging as the principal opposition.
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