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Exit polls have predicted a neck-and-neck fight in West Bengal between the Trinamool Congress and the BJP, with an advantage to the BJP.
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00:00Good afternoon and welcome. You're watching India Today and I'm Anisha Mathur with the headlines of this hour.
00:08Exit poll quake in Tamil Nadu.
00:11Access My India predicts TVK to become single largest party in Tamil Nadu.
00:17Is a Talapati show loading in Tamil Nadu?
00:21Other surveys show DMK ahead.
00:23Is TN heading for a cliffhanger?
00:31After Access My India poll predicts TVK is number one in TN.
00:36Sources say AIA DMK mulling talks with the TVK.
00:40TVK seats to determine Vijay's shot at CM chair.
00:44Tamil Nadu chief minister Stalin in a huddle with top ministers.
00:53UDF set to return in Kerala.
00:56Access My India calls decisive swing.
01:01UDF ahead in exit poll projections.
01:03Access My India predicts clear swing.
01:06UDF surge left on a back foot.
01:09Kerala set for a Congress cam back from the red wave.
01:20Bengal battle goes down to the wire.
01:22Exit polls predict neck-and-neck fight.
01:25Pollsters give BJP a big advantage.
01:28TMC confident a fourth consecutive win.
01:31Has the BJP finally breached Mamata's bastion?
01:35Is West Bengal next to be modified?
01:38All eyes on Bengal exit polls 5 p.m. onwards today on India Today.
01:50Bengal EVM tampering row.
01:52Repolling in some booths.
01:54EC says repolling at booths where EVMs were tampered.
01:58Repolling in constituency entirely if many cases come out.
02:09Exit polls predicts hat-trick of BJP victories in Assam.
02:14Exit polls predicts saffron sweep.
02:16BJP Plus projected to win 88-100 seats.
02:21Mama Himanta is Assam's favourite BJP on course for best ever display.
02:27Gogoi-led Congress headed for a rout.
02:42And our big story at this hour.
02:44The fiercest electoral battle of 2026 is headed for a likely photo finish.
02:49West Bengal has recorded an unprecedented voter turnout.
02:5393.2% in phase 1 and 92.5% voting in phase 2.
02:59The highest ever since independence in the state.
03:03And after all that, there is virtually nothing separating the TMC and the BJP.
03:08Exit polls predict a neck-and-neck contest.
03:12One that could swing either way.
03:14While a majority of pollsters give the BJP a slight edge,
03:19potentially paving the way for its first ever victory in West Bengal,
03:22the margins remain razor-thin.
03:25Some projections even placed the BJP in the 146-161 seat range in the 294-member assembly,
03:32just about crossing the majority mark.
03:35However, a few have backed the TMC and Mamata Banerjee to retain power for a fourth consecutive term.
03:43The BJP remains confident of outperforming exit poll predictions,
03:47expressing belief that its final tally will be higher.
03:50The TMC, on the other hand, has dismissed the exit polls altogether,
03:55insisting that the ground reality tells a different story,
03:59and that public support firmly remains with Mamata Banerjee.
04:05There is probability of top this event.
04:07The keto team will be higher than the BJP government and the完了 list.
04:15It means that it is the official Sits stands for the ultimate Republican electoral ideas.
04:36The government has taken such an anti-income and 34 years after the left was the same anti-income and
04:4515 years after the government is against the government.
04:49The other thing is that because of the SIR, the name of the dead voters, the party had the vote.
04:56foreign
04:58foreign
05:00foreign
05:00foreign
05:05foreign
05:35in the position of the state of the state.
05:49I do not believe in exit polls at all.
05:52My experience is that in the past most exit polls went wrong.
05:59I have seen the exit polls as have appeared in different TV channels.
06:05Most show in favor of BJP, one exit poll shows in favor of TMC.
06:12I do not give credence to either.
06:14Exit polls have to warm up the bazaar, we have seen the exit polls before.
06:21Exit polls were a bit in the Trinidad World Congress.
06:25When the Trinidad World Congress came up,
06:27when the exit polls came up,
06:29then the people who asked the exit polls,
06:31someone asked for forgiveness.
06:33Someone said, where are we wrong?
06:35We have to learn something else.
06:37So this is all.
06:39Exit polls are wrong.
06:42So this is all.
06:43The first thing I know about theolk industry is going to be a matter of the weather office.
06:48I know that it's going to be a matter of the weather office.
06:48Even when the weather office says today it's going to be a matter of the weather.
06:53It's going to be a matter of the weather.
07:08I have contacted the voters with eye-to-eye.
07:11At least, I have contacted the voters with the voters with eye-to-eye.
07:17Everyone is looking at the odds.
07:20They are killing it.
07:21The TNC party has more votes than the TNC party.
07:30But the TNC party has increased.
07:54We are very sure that we are going to gain the blessings of people in Kerala, our alliance
08:02will win in Tamil Nadu, we are sure that a secular party will win in West Bengal despite
08:12all the mechanisms, all the conspiracies and all the SIR kind of situation they built to
08:21cut genuine voters and they are trying to win through deception and they are trying
08:29to backstab democracy, the BJP is trying to backstab democracy in West Bengal.
08:35Despite that, we are sure that BJP will get defeated there.
08:42My colleague Tapas Sengupta is joining us live on this story.
08:45Tapas, you've been roaming around the entirety of the length and breadth of West Bengal, you've
08:51been following political leaders.
08:52You're now also seeing the exit polls.
08:55Take our viewers through what you have seen on the ground when it comes to voter preferences.
09:05Well, see, as far as this election is concerned, first of all, there was an unprecedented turnout
09:10of the voters and there were multiple issues following which the political parties have
09:15gone into election.
09:16There were perennial issues.
09:18Employment.
09:18There have been the issue of the SIR which have already played its role.
09:22And because of SIR, we have seen that people who reside from outside the state have also
09:27come to West Bengal to exercise the mandate.
09:31And apart from that, women's security is another major issue.
09:33And that's the reason we have seen such a huge number of women voter turnout this time
09:38around to exercise their mandate.
09:40And since very early in the morning till late in the evening, not even in the afternoon
09:45time when we usually don't see much voting happening, even during that period amid a lot
09:51of heat and humidity people queued up outside the booth to exercise their mandate.
09:57And most importantly, what I believe that people had this confidence in them that this time
10:03around it will be a violence-free election and exactly what has happened.
10:07The people in different areas like Murshidabad, Malda, which happened to be very, very volatile
10:11in nature in South 24 Parganaj, all these places have seen completely free and fair elections.
10:18There were certain quarters where the sporadic incidents were reported, but those were minor
10:26in nature.
10:27I was in Falta yesterday, Falta and Diamond Dabra, which is also known to be the place where
10:32we are accustomed to see political violence in massive scale.
10:37But this turn around, there was huge deployment of central paramilitary forces and also Kolkata
10:42police and West Bengal police, who have done their job excellently.
10:45Having that confidence in mind, people came out to cast their vote and hence the number
10:50of voter turnout was 93% approximately in the first phase and 92% in the second phase.
10:57It gives you a reflection that people could exercise their mandate after a long, long time,
11:03which we have not seen in West Bengal at least in 10-15 years.
11:08During the left regime, during Mahmata Banerjee's regime, we haven't seen huge turnout as we
11:13have witnessed.
11:14And SIR remains to be a perennial issue, but as the time goes and we are approaching closer
11:19to the counting day, both the Trinamul Congress and the BJP, both the parties are confident
11:25of their victory.
11:26Everybody has their own reasons to be confident of.
11:28But to understand exactly what would transpire, we'll have to wait till 4th until the vote
11:36counting concludes.
11:38Thank you very much for that perspective.
11:40Tapas Sankupta there talking about the issues and the impact of the various issues and the
11:47voter turnout.
11:47But let's take you through this, viewers.
11:50Bengal has made history according to recording the highest ever voter turnout in the polls.
11:57For the first phase, voter turnout stood at 93.19%.
12:03In the second phase, it touched 92.47%.
12:07Combined, Bengal recorded a 92.9% voter turnout, which is its highest since independence.
12:16Notably, in 2011, when the state recorded its second highest turnout at 84.7%,
12:24Mamata ousted the left, ending 30 years of left rule.
12:29The BJP is now using the same theory to claim that Bengal has voted for change and that Mamata
12:36will be dethroned on May 4th.
12:38On the other hand, the TMC remains confident of a victory and a fourth term for Mamata.
12:44Exit polls, meanwhile, give an edge to the BJP.
12:52And now let's listen in once to what the Prime Minister had said on Wednesday regarding
12:57the high voter turnout in Bengal.
13:01Jiski kalpana bhi muskil thi,
13:07Vaisen nirvik vatavaran mein,
13:11Bengal mein,
13:14Is bar voting ho raha hai.
13:20Lohg,
13:21Bhyay mukt ho kar,
13:24Vot dhe raha hai.
13:28Ape dhe raha hai.
13:29Jiski kalpana bhi kya cha ha hai.
13:42Lohg,
13:43Bungal ki mahan janta ka,
14:04An election commission's announcement on EVM tampering rao has come in now.
14:11Manoj Kumar Agrawal, the Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal, has said that re-polling will be conducted at the
14:17polling stations where complaints have been received about black or white tape on the EVMs or where candidates' names, symbols
14:25or identities were obscured using glue, ink or paint.
14:30He's also said that legal action will be taken against those responsible after a probe.
14:35The poll panel has said that it received 77 complaints of EVM-related tampering during Phase 2 polling.
14:42This comes after a massive controversy erupted over visuals allegedly showing tape pasted over the BJP button on an EVM.
14:51The BJP has cried foul with candidate Debangshu Panda alleging a conspiracy to block votes.
14:58He claimed the button linked to his symbol was deliberately disabled to deny voter access and demanded immediate re-polling.
15:08The Trinamool Congress hit back sharply with Falta candidate Jahangir Khan dismissing the allegations as a staged drama.
15:15He even claimed the BJP candidate had himself taped the machine to manufacture controversy.
15:50The Trinamool Congress makes the case of the
15:51We are going to have to go to the village, and we are going to have to go to the
16:08village.
16:09foreign
16:10foreign
16:20foreign
16:26foreign
16:51Poleing in Bengal is over.
16:53But the battle is far from done.
16:56From bombs near boots to clashes, gheraws and an explosive EVM-tampering rao in Falta,
17:03the BJP cries foul, the TMC hits back and the war over pole credibility is only intensifying.
17:10Take a look at this special report by India Today.
17:53Polling in West Bengal is done, but the battle for Bengal is far from over.
17:58From violence on the ground to allegations of stampery, a fierce BJP versus DMC war over
18:04poll credibility has now snowballed into a political storm.
18:11From Ketogram where live bombs were found near a polling booth to Nadia where a poll agent
18:17was allegedly attacked and then Bhangar where clashes erupted between the ISF and TMC cadre
18:22pushing the constituency to the edge.
18:24But the biggest flashpoint is Falta, images of taped EVM buttons igniting a political storm.
18:34I was surprised from the police department.
18:37What was the reason they saw the BJP Rota and they were given as a picture of the Pidge Board
18:43as a small team.
18:45So they couldn't get this vote.
18:47You had a tape on a EVM, your BGP symbol was written on it.
18:51What happened?
18:52What happened in the BGP?
18:53What happened?
18:54I was on a small team of BGP.
18:55He was on a small team of CANDID.
18:57I was on a small team of BGP.
18:58He got his own team, he got his own team, he got his own team, he got his own team,
19:00he
19:01got his team, and I took my team up and gave him.
19:03In Bhavanipur, BJP's Shubhindo Adhikari was heckled.
19:06Slogans were raised as tempers flared.
19:13Until the police stepped in, using mild force to restore order.
19:18The BJP has alleged fake voting by the TMC, claiming that men in Burkhaz tried to vote.
19:50BJP has hailed the high voter turnout, saying that Bengal has voted for change.
20:16But Chief Minister Mahmouda Banerjee has hit back, launching a blistering attack on central forces,
20:21alleging booth capturing, intimidation of voters and interference in polling.
20:27CRPM cannot torture like this.
20:29See, no state police is there.
20:31All their characters, is it their duty?
20:35They should secure the border.
20:38Instead of securing the border, they are securing one political party.
20:42From yesterday night, they started atrocities and they arrested so many of them.
20:47So there is a disaster.
20:48It is a contempt of hope.
20:50We have sent out notices that are concerned of people.
20:54But I have never seen this type of democracy.
20:57TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee escalated the attack,
20:59calling central forces, the BJP's private army,
21:03alleging assaults on civilians and invoking the Sital Kuchi flashpoint,
21:06with a warning of strict action ahead.
21:10In Bengal, the ballots are sealed.
21:12But the battle for trust is wide open.
21:14With 500 CAPF companies staying on even after polling,
21:18the big question now is, who wins on the 4th of Maine?
21:22And will the war over free and fair end or spill back onto the streets?
21:30With Meish Mishra, Indrajit Kundu, Amit Bhardwaj,
21:33Mosmee Singh and Tapas and Gupta in West Bengal,
21:36we have a report, India Today.
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