West Bengal Opinion poll 2024: BJP to outshine TMC in setback for Mamata

The Trinamool Congress recently announced all 42 candidates from the state. Among key candidates, Mahua Moitra will fight from Krishnanagar, former cricketer Yusuf Pathan from Berhampore, Saayoni Ghosh from Jadavpur, Gopal Lamba from Darjeeling, Abhishek Banerjee from Diamond Harbour, and actor Shatrughan Sinha from Asansol. Watch here. 

Aiming to throw a tough challenge to Trinamool, the BJP announced names on 20 seats in the state.  Prominent among them are BJP state president Sukanta Mazumdar (Balurghat), Nisith Pramanik (Cooch Behar), Subhas Sarkar (Bankura), Shantanu Thakur (Bongaon), Jagannath Sarkar (Ranaghat), Khagen Murmu (Maldah North), and Locket Chatterjee (Hooghly).

Catch LIVE updates of Opinion poll 2024 here. 

The upcoming electoral battle is expected to be a direct showdown between the Trinamool and the BJP.

In the 2019, Trinamool clinched 22 seats compared to the BJP's 18, with respective vote percentages of 43.3 and 40.7. But in 2021 Mamata steered the Trinamool to a resounding victory in the state assembly elections, securing an impressive 215 seats. Despite the BJP's vigorous campaigning, it only managed to secure 77 seats. This victory, however, marked a substantial departure from the BJP's relatively modest performance in the 2016 state elections, where they garnered a mere three seats.

West Bengal stands as one of India's most influential states and a frontrunner in the eastern electoral zone. Even a marginal increase in the BJP's 2019 tally of 18 seats would bring them closer to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s stated target of securing 370 seats independently.

For Mamata, this election doesn't represent a make-or-break scenario, given her control over the state until 2026. However, a significant surge in her party's seat count would position her as the primary opposition leader in the Lok Sabha.