BJP supporters celebrate as party takes big lead in West Bengal assembly polls

Ecstatic BJP workers erupted in celebrations in parts of West Bengal as the party was leading in the state assembly polls.

The party workers, holding photographs of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, raised 'Jai Shri Ram' slogan and hailed Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, while exchanging sweets among themselves and offering those to passersby as well outside the party's state headquarters in Kolkata.

Similar scenes were witnessed in South 24 Parganas' Kakdwip, a former TMC stronghold, and North 24 Parganas' Bongaon, which has a sizeable Matua population, as BJP supporters smeared one another with 'aabir' (gulaal) and danced to the party campaign song of 'Paltano Darkar, Ebar BJP sarkar' (we need to change and bring BJP to power).

Anubhab Bairagi, a BJP supporter in Bongaon, said, "The TMC had run a misleading campaign about the BJP working against the citizenship of Matuas. The party has already made it clear that all the Hindus who migrated from Bangladesh will be given citizenship while those who already are citizens won't have to worry."

The BJP was leading in 193 seats, while the TMC was ahead in 94 constituencies. The Aam Janata Unnayan Party of Humayun Kabir was ahead in two seats, and the Congress, CPI(M) and All Indian Secular Front (AISF) in one each, according to the Election Commission.