West Bengal election results 2019 highlights: With 18 seats and 40% vote share, BJP snaps at TMC heels in Bengal

'Poll of polls' has predicted 14 seats for the BJP, up from the current two. Congress might get 2, while Trinamool is likely to corner 25-26 seats. If the predictions hold, it will be read as a tectonic shift in the state politics.

The BJP's strong focus in West Bengal seems to be paying rich dividends for the NDA as it is projected to win 15 seats, according to the poll of polls. According to the Times Now-VMR and C-Voter poll prediction, the BJP is likely to make a gain of nine seats taking its tally to 11 as against two in 2014 of the total 42, while the ruling TMC is likely to get 29.

TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee on Sunday asserted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have to substantiate statements made by him while addressing a rally in Diamond Harbour on May 15, with proof. "If he fails to do so I will sue him in the criminal and defamation cases. I will drag him to the court and do the needful," Banerjee told reporters.

The TMC is banking on 30-year-old Bengali film-star Mimi Chakraborty for a third consecutive win in Jadavpur, where party chief Mamata Banerjee, then a feisty young Congress leader, had trounced CPM veteran and noted lawyer Somnath Chatterjee in 1984.

With a sizeable chunk of MP seats from the state, the BJP will look at dislodging the government in West Bengal, even before 2021, said the Bengal BJP’s election strategist Mukul Roy. “This Lok Sabha election will show that Trinamool Congress has lost people’s mandate in the state. People could not vote during the panchayat polls and violence swept across the state. It is their time now,” Roy said.

The Election Commission cut short campaigning for final phase of polling in nine Lok Sabha seats of West Bengal by a day and removed key officials from the state in the wake of violence during BJP president Amit Shah's roadshow. TMC and BJP blamed each other for the violence, during which a statue of Bengal Renaissance icon Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar was vandalised.

BJP and TMC supporters on Tuesday fought pitched battles on the streets of Kolkata during a massive roadshow by Amit Shah, who escaped unhurt but was forced to cut short the jamboree and had to be escorted to safety by police. A bust of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, kept inside the Vidyasagar College, was smashed to smithreens. The mystery over who is responsible for the bust vandalism is yet to clear.

"Mamata didi gets angry if someone chants 'Jai Shri Ram'. I am chanting 'Jai Shri Ram' here today, if you (Mamata) have the guts, arrest me," Amit Shah said at an election rally. A video clip showing Banerjee fuming at people for chanting 'Jai Shri Ram' in Ghatal Lok Sabha seat went viral on social media recently.

7 south Bengal constituencies - Barrackpore, Howrah, Bongaon, Serampore, Hooghly, Uluberia and Arambagh - catapulted Mamata and Trinamool Congress to power in Bengal in 2011, the wave of support coming on the back of the Singur land agitation. But things have changed since and Trinamool today is facing challenges in most of these constituencies, particularly infighting.

BJP, which is putting up a spirited fight in West Bengal and is expected to raise its vote share substantially, found an unlikely ally in the Left with CPM cadres silently helping it at the ground level. The common object of hate for the two sides, otherwise sworn enemies, is Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress.

"I have been told that here Didi has said that she wants to slap Modi. Mamata Didi I call you 'Didi', respect you. Your slap will become a blessing for me. I am ready to take that)," Prime Minister Modi said while addressing a rally. Mamata Banerjee had accused Prime Minister Modi of lying and said when he attacked her party of being a "tolabaaz" (extortion), she wanted to give him a "tight slap of democracy."

Leading the list is Dev aka Deepak Adhikary, whose attendance is only 11 per cent. He participated in 2 debates and raised three questions. Other star MPs like Sandhya Roy (not contesting this time), Satabdi Roy, Tapas Pal (also not contesting) and Moon Moon Sen aka Sreemati Dev Varma have better attendance but poor in debate participation and raising questions.

PM Narendra Modi claimed at a rally that 40 Trinamool MLAs were in touch with him and would quit the party after the Lok Sabha election results were out on May 23. The Trinamool brass accused Modi of horse trading and said it would complain to the Election Commission about it. The claim was seconded by Andhra CM N Chandrababu Naidu and CPM leader Sujan Chakraborty.