Exit polls for West Bengal Assembly elections have predicted a narrow win for Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee led Trinamool Congress (TMC), engaged in a do-or-die battle with Bharatiya Janata party (BJP). While most exit polls have predicted seats in the range of 155 to 165 for Trinamool, two polls have taken extreme positions — one saying she will fall short and another handing her 175 seats. The halfway mark in the 294-member assembly is 148.

The two extreme predictions are one from ETG research that has given 164-176 seats to Mamata Banerjee and the other is Republic TV-CNX that says she will fall short of majority with 128-138 seats. Trinamool has 211 seats in the outgoing assembly.

According to ETG Research, TMC will win 164-176, BJP is expected to win 105-115 whereas Congress-Left alliance will win 10-15.

P-MARQ has predicted that TMC will win 152-172, BJP-112-132, Congress-Left alliance-10-20.

According to ABP C-Voter, Mamata Banerjee-led TMC will rule the state assembly 152-164, BJP-109-121 and Congress-Left alliance-14-25.

CNN News18 has predicted, TMC will get 162 seats, BJP-115 and Congress-Left alliance-15.

The Republic TV-CNX exit poll predicted 128-138 seats for TMC, 138-148 for BJP and 11-21 for Congress-Left alliance.

The election for the assembly was held in eight phases from March 27 to April 29. The counting of the votes, which will be held on May 2, will take place amid the second wave of coronavirus in the country.

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At present, TMC has 211 seats and is eyeing to gain majority in the assembly again. On the other hand, BJP is looking to rule West Bengal along with some regional parties. In the 2016 elections, BJP did not win any seat but this time, the saffron party is looking to make inroads by hoping to win more than 50 seats.

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West Bengal was the most keenly-watched of all the states going to polls. Marked by defections, high-decibel campaign and allegations of attacks, the campaign in the state was highly vitriolic, to say the least.

The votes will be counted on May 2, along with Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry.