Celebrations outside Mamata Banerjee's house as TMC leads

Kolkata: With Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee constructing another sweep, with her Trinamool Congress (TMC) ahead in 200 of the state's 294 seats, enthusiastic supporters gathered outside her Kalighat residence on Thursday morning to celebrate her premature win.

Supporters gathered outside Didi's residence soon after the poll charts hinted her come back in the state for second term as the Chief Minister.

Current trends show Mamata Banerjee taking a big lead of over 3,000 votes over BJP's Chandra Bose in Bhowanipur. The Left alliance bagged 34 seats, with BJP bagging three.

Slogan like 'Thanda thanda cool, cool; ghore ghore Trinamool' was heard outside Banerjee's residence as hundreds of TMC supporters thronged the Chief Minister's residence at Harish Chatterjee Street in Kalighat.

Elections in the state were held in six-phases beginning from April 4 with 1,961 candidates including 198 women in the fray.

In the two parts of first phase elections, the voter turnout was 84.22% and over 83 percent respectively.

In the second phase, 79.70 percent people exercised their right to vote.

A series of clashes between political rivals broke out during the third phase, but the violence failed to deter the electors who thronged the polling booths, recording a 79.22 percent voter turnout.

In the fourth phase, the voting percentage was 78.05 percent. In the fifth phase 78.25 percent of voters exercised their franchise while the sixth and final phase once again witnessed around 84.24 percent of polling.

Elections were held in the five states - Assam, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala and Puducherry - over April and May. Votes are being counted for all five today.