'Befitting reply to BJP's hate politics': Akhilesh congratulates Mamata as TMC takes lead

Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday congratulated Mamata Banerjee over the lead that the TMC has assumed in the West Bengal assembly election results calling it a befitting reply by the people to BJP's hate politics. 

"Heartiest congratulations to the conscious public, the combative Ms. Mamta Banerjee ji and the dedicated leaders and activists of TMC, who defeated the politics of hate of BJP in Bengal! This is a befitting reply given by the public to the insulting sarcasm 'Didi O Didi' on a woman by the BJP," said Akhilesh Yadav.

Mamata Banerjee's 200-seat lead has also invoked congratulatory responses from NCP's Sharad Pawar and former J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.  While the NCP chief congratulated Mamata Banerjee on her 'stupendous victory', Omar Abdullah took the opportunity to also launch an attack on the Election Commission which it called 'thoroughly partisan.'  

West Bengal election results 2021 

While exit polls predicted a neck-to-neck fight between TMC and BJP in the 294-seat West Bengal state assembly, early trends have given an edge to Mamata Banerjee. As per the latest EC trends, the TMC has taken a considerable lead over the BJP and is projected to be leading in 201 assembly constituencies as compared to the 78 that the BJP is leading on.

In the high-profile Nandigram seat, after an initial lead of almost 8,000 votes, CM Mamata Banerjee crossed former TMC leader Suvendu Adhikari by a slight margin. Meanwhile, several sitting MPs of the BJP including Babul Supriyo and Locket Chatterjee are trailing from their respective constituencies.

The BJP however has refused to accept the early trends as an indicator of the final result with Kailash Vijayvargiya asking for people to wait for at least 10 rounds of counting to be completed for a clearer picture.