The Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party were on Tuesday locked in a neck-and-neck contest in West Bengal as counting of postal ballots for the Lok Sabha polls was underway, with the former having a slight edge, TV channels reported.
Bengal is a key battleground in the 2024 Lok Sabha election == one the BJP is hoping to wrest away from Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
A healthy score in the eastern state will also boost the BJP's bid to hit its internal target of 370 seats and the overall, much-touted, 'abki baar, 400 paar'.
Counting of votes for the Lok Sabha elections has begun across states and Union Territories, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar told PTI.
According to the Conduct of Election Rules, postal ballots were taken up for counting first and the process of counting of votes recorded in electronic voting machines (EVMs) began 30 minutes later.
The process of counting votes cast through postal ballots and EVMs will continue simultaneously.
While the Lok Sabha has 543 members, counting is being held for 542 seats after the BJP's Surat candidate Mukesh Dalal was elected unopposed.