‘Don’t give in to any provocation by BJP or other Oppn party workers’

Kolkata: With the party already rejecting the exit poll results, Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee is learnt to have virtually conducted an internal meeting with his party workers and has appointed special counting observers for selected Lok Sabha constituencies where the party had secured victory and in seats where its vote margin was less in 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

TMC chairperson Mamata Banerjee has already rejected the exit poll results where her party was shown lagging behind the BJP in terms of Lok Sabha seats. She has alleged that such exit polls are “BJP sponsored” and hence “fake”.

In such circumstances, Abhishek is learnt to have held a virtual meeting with all his party functionaries where he selected certain ‘counting observers’ for seats secured by his party in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, especially ones where TMC’s vote margin was less.

It was learnt that for the Arambagh seat, party leader Santanu Sen was appointed the counting observer whereas for the Tamluk seat, Rajib Banerjee was appointed as the observer.

For the Uluberia seat, Pulak Roy was given the responsibility while Jayprakash Majumder was appointed for the Midnapore seat. For Ghatal, two observers were appointed who are Manas Bhunia and Ajit Maity. Indranil Sen was given the charge for the Hooghly seat.

The observers were instructed to reach the districts on Monday and also send a comprehensive report to the party. These observers will be responsible for helping the polling agents fill up forms, among other technical issues.

They will also need to ensure that the candidates and agents remain at the counting centres till the process

is completed.

Abhishek, like Mamata, has also rejected the exit poll results and is said to have motivated the party workers to keep their morale high. He is learnt to have instructed them to remain active on the counting day and not to give in to any provocation by BJP or other Opposition party workers.

TMC leaders, including Abhishek, have maintained that the party will be clinching more than 30 seats and is confident that its vote share too shall increase compared to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

However, most exit poll results predicted that the BJP will remain ahead of TMC in terms of seats.

In the 2019 Parliamentary polls, BJP had secured 18 seats in West Bengal with a 40 per cent vote share, approximately.