PM takes boat ride on Hooghly river in Kolkata

Modi on Friday sharpened the BJP’s pitch for regime change in West Bengal, claiming that the first phase of polling has sealed a “wave of change” in the state and signalled the beginning of the end of the TMC’s “maha jungle raj”.

Addressing a poll rally at Panihati under the Dum Dum Lok Sabha constituency in North 24 Parganas district, Modi framed the high voter turnout as an endorsement of the BJP’s campaign for change and a rejection of what he described as the TMC’s “dictatorship”.

Nearly 93 per cent of the 3.60 crore electors voted in the first phase of the West Bengal assembly polls on Thursday.