Exit polls 2021: West Bengal too close to call, DMK has cruising victory, LDF to enjoy second turn

NEW DELHI: Chances of Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress retaining power in West Bengal appeared too close to call, while Assam is likely to give the BJP another shot at power, if exit poll projections on Thursday are anything to go by.

In Tamil Nadu, exit polls predicted a crushing victory for the MK Stalin-led DMK, while the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF appeared comfortably ahead in the race to retain power in Kerala. As for Puducherry, exit polls put it in the BJP’s pocket.

ABP News CVoter predicted the Trinamool getting between 152-164 seats, while BJP could get between 109- 121 in West Bengal. The Left alliance, including the Congress, is expected to get between 14-25. On the contrary, the Republic- CNX polls gave the BJP a slight edge by projecting 138-148 seats for the party in the 294-seat Assembly and 128-138 to the Trinamool.

The eight-phase polls in West Bengal ended on Thursday evening. As for Assam, the BJP-led NDA is likely to beat antiincumbency to retain power. The India Today-Axis My India exit poll gave 75-85 of Assam’s 126 seats to the NDA.

The Congress's grand alliance is likely to win 40-50 seats, it predicted. In Tamil Nadu, the exit polls predict a landslide for the Opposition DMK alliance, giving it a staggering 165 of the 234 seats that went to polls.

The AIADMK, which had the BJP as its ally, could end up end up with 66 seats. As for Kerala, the LDF is all set to retain power with the poll of polls predicting 84 to LDF, 54 to UDF and 2 to the BJP. If the India Today- Axis exit poll is to be believed, the LDF is expected to win around 104-120 seats, UDF 20-36, BJP 0-2 and others 0-2.