‘Exit polls have no value’: Mamata Banerjee expresses confidence of victory in West Bengal

With her and her party’s fate already locked in Electronic Voting Machines and less than 48 hours before it is known to everyone, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday expressed confidence in winning a clear majority in the state Assembly elections held in two phases on April 23 and 29.

Speaking to Trinamool Congress counting agents alongside her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, the Chief Minister said that her party is going to win more than 200 seats.

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She urged the counting agents to ignore the “propaganda and campaign by the BJP and its allies.”

The Bengal CM reminded them of exit polls of the 2021 Assembly elections and 2024 Lok Sabha polls. In both years, exit polls had predicted a close contest, with some even giving the BJP an edge over TMC.

However, the outcomes in both these polls were poles apart. In 2021, TMC won 215 seats and in 2024 it won 29 of the 42 seats.

“Such exit polls have no value. The 2021 and 2024 exit polls were way off the mark. I think most such polls are meant to influence the share market,” the TMC supremo said.

She further directed party agents to demand recounting in seats where any TMC candidate loses by a margin of 200-300 votes.

“No one should leave the counting centres till the process is over,” CM Banerjee said.

Her nephew and TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee also addressed the gathering and told counting agents to inform the leadership in case of any unusual activities.

“All unusual activities inside counting centres, like the sudden power outage at the Nandigram counting centre in 2021, must be immediately reported to the party’s top brass,” he said.

The counting of votes for the high-stakes Bengal Assembly elections 2026 will take place on May 4 and the results are also likely to be announced the same day.