Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress today won a landslide victory in Bengal. The Chief Minister, however, lost to BJP's Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram. "I accept the verdict in Nandigram - it is not a big deal. Don't worry," she said.
"'Khela hobe' did happen, and we did win. The BJP kept going on and on about double-engine sarkar, while I assured you all that I will score a double century. This is Bangla's win... this is Bengal's win... this is your win. This win has saved Bengal, it has saved the culture and tradition of Bengal," said Ms Banerjee who ran a bitter, no holds barred campaign against the BJP over two months as Covid cases surged in India.
In Tamil Nadu, the opposition DMK is way ahead with 69 per cent of the MLAs of the DMK-led alliance leading in their respective seats while the ruling Left-led LDF front is likely to end a four-decade trend by retaining power in Kerala, early trends from the state show
In Assam, the BJP is ahead of its nearest rival Congress, which campaigned hard to reclaim its one-time bastion. "People have blessed us. We can say for sure that the BJP will form government in Assam. We are coming back to power with our partners AGP and UPPL," Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal told reporters.
AINRC Chief N Rangaswamy, meanwhile, is leading in Puducherry at the moment with his alliance leading in 10 seats
The poll results in the four states and the Union Territory are also likely to reflect how the handling of the COVID pandemic has played on the voters' mind.
Here are the Highlights 2021 Updates on Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry:
#AssamElectionResults2021 | BJP Set To Retain Assam
- NDTV (@ndtv) May 2, 2021
Read more: https://t.co/JoI0SU9Jyh pic.twitter.com/rG7iuCrYGV
#WestBengalElections2021 | Trinamool Congress is way past the halfway mark of 147 seats in West Bengal and is in a comfortable position, trends show pic.twitter.com/jxw7KhxMtv
- NDTV (@ndtv) May 2, 2021
Trinamool Congress's request for recounting in Nandigram has been rejected by the Election Commission. BJP's Suvendu Adhikari has defeated Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee by a narrow margin from the constituency.
#NDTVExclusive | "I am a Bengali woman, I am fighting on the ground...and I could tell you that everybody was cringing": @MahuaMoitra, TMC MP, Lok Sabha on PM Modi's "didi-o-didi" remarks #ElectionResults #WestBengalPolls pic.twitter.com/naAwOogzAk
- NDTV (@ndtv) May 2, 2021
- Assam we said that we will try to regain power, but we never said that we will win, partly because we knew we were facing a strong and formidable force in the BJP.
- What worries me is Kerala - we should have won in Kerala as we do every alternate time, but we really need to introspect and see what went wrong for us.
- For Bengal, I have a very different view of our issue in Bengal, and we read the situation completely wrong and that backfired badly for us. You see, it was primarily a fight between the TMC and the BJP - that too a very polarised one.
- There was just no room for a third party in Bengal. Same was the case in Tamil Nadu - big contest between DMK and AIADMK. So, in Bengal we just got our approach wrong and that is something we need to work on.
#NDTVExclusive | "We do not want to consider Muslim migrants from Pakistan as natural refugees. This has been BJP's stand from the very beginning":@himantabiswa, leader, BJP
- NDTV (@ndtv) May 2, 2021
#AssamElections | #ElectionResults pic.twitter.com/mO4PgbO3AB