No Victory Rallies Will Be Allowed After Result Announcement in West Bengal, Says EC

No rallies celebrating the victory of candidates will be allowed anywhere in West Bengal on Monday, a senior official of the Chief Electoral Officer’s (CEO) office said, as reported by news agency PTI. "No rallies celebrating wins of candidates following the announcement of results will be allowed anywhere in the state today," special observer Subrata Gupta told reporters. Counting is underway for 293 seats of the West Bengal assembly, with early trends indicating a clear edge to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The official also said the poll panel is looking into complaints that agents of different parties were unable to reach counting centres."We are looking into the issue of agents unable to reach their centres. It will be resolved soon,"

he said.The BJP was leading in 24 Assembly seats while its rival TMC was ahead in five seats in early trends shown on the Election Commission website on at 10:20 am on Monday. The counting of votes for the state’s 293 Assembly constituencies began at 8 am, with postal ballots taken up first in keeping with Election Commission norms, followed by the counting of EVM votes.The high-stakes election is being seen as a crucial test for Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her party's bid for a fourth consecutive term, amid a stiff challenge mounted by the BJP.Officials said trends are likely to change as more rounds of counting are completed, with clearer patterns expected to emerge later in the day.West Bengal's Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari on Monday asserted that the BJP will form the next government in the state. Adhikari is seeking a re-election from Nandigram and taking on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Bhabanipur. "BJP will form the government," he told reporters.Maintaining that Muslim voters have not gone en masse with the TMC in this election, he claimed that a similar trend can be seen in Bhabanipur. "I will go ahead after the ninth or tenth round and emerge as the winner in the seat," he said, claiming that Hindu votes have consolidated in favour of the BJP.