With 42 seats at stake, West Bengal assumes a lot of importance in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. While at the outset, it appears to be a four-cornered fight between the BJP, Trinamool Congress, Left and Congress, experts believe that in most seats it will boil down to a direct fight between the BJP and TMC.
Speaking to BloombergQuint, Maidul Islam, professor of Political Science said that since the 2016 Assembly elections in the state, BJP has emerged as the major contender against Trinamool Congress and it will not be any different this time.
Devadeep Purohit, senior journalist at The Telegraph also suggested the same, saying that there is some amount of anti-incumbency against Mamata Banerjee and people are looking at BJP as a more viable option rather than the Left or Congress.
Both the experts predicted about 35 seats for the TMC and 4 to 5 seats for the BJP. Purohit also said that anything under 35 would be a disappointing performance for Mamata Banerjee’s party.
The panellists also said that if the BJP fails to attain majority at the national level, Mamata Banerjee would definitely be a vital player in post poll arrangements.
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