“BJP will remain near 200 seats, will not reach double-digit in Bengal”: TMC candidate Sudip Bandyopadhyay

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], June 1 (ANI): The Trinamool Congress incumbent MP and candidate from Kolkata Uttar seat, Sudip Bandyopadhyay casts his vote in the final phase of the general elections.

Sudip is in the electoral fray against the Congress candidate Pradip Bhattacharya. BJP has fielded Tapas Roy for the seat.

After casting his vote, Sudip said that the BJP will get nearly 200 seats in the polls while in Bengal it will not get in double digits.

“BJP will remain near 200 seats. It will not reach double digits in Bengal,” he said.

“I stand by the people of my constituency and in return they vote for me. Also, Mamata Banerjee has given adequate time in the constituency for the campaign,” he added.

Kolkata Uttar consists of seven assembly segments including–Chaurangi, Entally, Beleghata, Jorasanko, Shyampukur, Maniktala, and Cossipore-Belgachia. Sudip Bandhopadhyay is the sitting MP from the constituency having won the seat 3 times.

Meanwhile, voting is underway in West Bengal’s nine seats including– Barasat, Basirhat, Diamond Harbour, Dum Dum, Jaynagar, Jadavpur, Kolkata Dakshin, Kolkata Uttar, and Mathurapur.

A total of 904 candidates are in the fray for the final phase of polling. The prominent candidates in the fray in this phase include Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders Ravi Shankar Prasad, Nishikant Dubey, Ravneet Singh Bittu, Congress leaders Manish Tewari, Charanjit Singh Channi, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Misa Bharti.

Actor-turned-politician Kangana Ranaut from the BJP is fighting against Congress candidate Vikramaditya Singh in Mandi. Union Minister Anurag Thakur is in the fray from Hamirpur, actor-turned-politician Ravi Kishan is contesting from Gorakhpur and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and Trinamool Congress candidate Abhishek Banerjee is contesting from Diamond Harbour.

After the close of voting on June 1, the outcome of exit polls will be aired on various TV channels. The Election Commission has issued a ban on exit polls from 7 am on April 19 to 6:30 pm on June 1, till the conclusion of polling.

Polling for the earlier six phases of Lok Sabha elections was held on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13, May 20, and May 25. Assembly polls have also been held in Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim, and Arunachal Pradesh. Odisha is seeing simultaneous polls to Lok Sabha and assembly in the last four phases.