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voter turnout stood at 91.74 percent.

If exit polls are correct, a BJP win this time would mean the party that rules at the Centre gets to govern the key state of over 100 million people for the first time.

The Election Commission’s contentious Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls has further complicated predictions. While the TMC used the exercise -- which led to the deletion of 91 lakh voters, mostly Muslims -- to attack the BJP, its impact on the ground remains unclear.

Exit polls in India have a mixed record and can be inaccurate.

In 2021, several exit polls not only failed to capture the TMC’s dominant showing of 215 seats in the 294-member assembly, but some also gave the BJP an outright majority. The BJP won 77 seats, well short of the 148-seat majority mark.

In every assembly poll since the TMC first came to power in 2011, the party has increased its seat tally, from 184 in 2011 to 215 in 2021.