KOLKATA: Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh said here that Phase-3 voter turnout of today points to rising BJP trend in West Bengal, and in fact in the entire East. Commenting on the heavy voter turnout, Dr. Jitendra Singh said, the voter turnout will continue to be high or even higher in the subsequent four phases in which the West Bengal Lok Sabha constituencies are scheduled to go to polls. Pertinent to mention that West Bengal like Uttar Pradesh is having Lok Sabha elections in all the seven phases to elect members for 42 Lok Sabha Constituencies. While in 2019, out of 42 Lok Sabha Constituencies, BJP had won 18 seats against 22 seats won by TMC and 2 seats won by the Congress, this time the BJP leadership is aiming to win 30 to 35 out of 42 Lok Sabha Constituencies. Dr. Jitendra Singh claimed that as far Phase-5 is concerned, which is assigned to him and which goes to polls on May 20, in all the seven seats of this phase the BJP is heading for a victory and in any case in six out of seven seats the BJP victory is absolutely assured. There has been a progressive rise in the vote share of BJP in the successive elections ever since Prime Minister Narenda Modi took over in 2014, said Dr. Jitendra Singh and added that in the last election the BJP vote share which was at one time in single digit percentage rose up to nearly 40%. He said, this progressively rising trend will be witnessed even when the results are out on 4th of June. Attributing his optimism about the BJP’s spectacular success in the Lok Sabha election in West Bengal to the penetration of Modi’s outreach to the deprived sections of society regardless of vote bank consideration, Dr. Jitendra Singh said, the people of West Bengal are highly awakened and enlightened, and, therefore, they are able to draw comparison with the other States like UP and Gujarat where most of the Welfare schemes targeting women, farmers, youth and the poor have achieved 100% saturation targets, whereas the same has not been possible in this State because of lack of cooperation and lack of facilitation by the TMC-led State Government. People of West Bengal, particularly the youth, said Dr. Jitendra Singh, have traditionally always been very aspirational and forward looking, and they are not ready to deprive themselves of the enormous opportunities being provided by the Modi-led government in the rest of the country. He said, there is an increasing feeling among the common masses that for the last several decades, West Bengal has neither seen any industrial growth nor any major development projects whereas some of the other States which were far behind have moved on and made a mark even at the global level. Dr. Jitendra Singh hoped that the declaration of results on 4th June will mark a new beginning for West Bengal and the Lok Sabha election success will pave the way for BJP’s success in the subsequent State Assembly elections. He said, despite all the intimidation and pressure tactics by the TMC leaders and their workers, the common masses are inclined to be part of the Modi-led development journey of India.
