Amid the BJP currently ruling the roost in West Bengal with a lead in more than 200 seats—far beyond the majority mark of 148 of the state's 294-seat Assembly—counting had paused for a while in Bhabanipur, Mamata Banerjee's home turf.
This sparked concerns, with CM Banerjee arriving at the Sakhawat Memorial School—the main counting centre for her constituency—where she flagged issues with voting across the state.
After counting operations resumed there, an Election Commission (EC) official pointed out that the halt had taken place because an individual had entered the counting centre "carrying a mobile phone".
"The device was promptly deposited, following which the counting process was restarted," the official added.
However, CM Banerjee has alleged that counting had been paused at a number of counting centres across the state, accusing the EC and the BJP of influencing the polls.
In fact, Asansol has even seen tense clashes between BJP and TMC workers, which led to a TMC office set on fire, and police forces resorting to a lathi charge to break the violent clashes.
Will Bhabanipur swing for the BJP?
Bhabanipur is not only CM Banerjee's home turf, but also the only seat from where she contested the West Bengal elections.
Her rival from the BJP, Suvendu Adhikari, however, had contested both from his own stronghold of Nandigram—from where he maintains a strong lead—and Bhabanipur where he is trailing behind the TMC supremo.
However, EC data shows that CM Banerjee's lead over Adhikari is slowly narrowing. After 12 rounds of counting, she had received 44,729 votes against his gradually growing 37,545—giving her a lead of 7,184 votes, as of 4:24 PM. However, after the 13th round, this lead had reduced to 5,349 votes.
The CM had also rejected initial trends from the vote counting, adding that her party would win "after sunset", and that there was "no need for anyone to be afraid".
"They have stopped counting at many places. Such machines have been found in Kalyani, where there is no match; atrocities are being committed against TMC from all sides through central forces," Mamata claimed in the video.