A cropped video of Birbhum’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Anubrata Mondal has surfaced with a misleading claim that he said TMC would fail to secure even 15 to 16 seats out of the 152 contested in the first phase of the assembly polls in the state.
BOOM found that Mondal was speaking about his party’s opponents failing to secure even 15 or 16 seats in the first phase. He also predicted a big win for TMC in the original video.
In the 20-second video, Mondal can be heard saying he had never seen such a high voter turnout of 96–98 percent in his life. Referring to the 152 seats that went to polls in the first phase on May 23, Mondal also says he had earlier predicted around 130 seats for the TMC and was unsure they would get even 15 or 16 seats in the first phase.
The Claim
West Bengal BJP leader Keya Ghosh shared the video with the caption, "Anubrata Mondal, Mamata Banerjee's dear "keshto" is saying TMC might not even get 15-16 seats in the first phase."
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What We Found: Viral Video Is Cropped
Mondal Said TMC Set For Big Win: We first ran a keyword search in Bengali to trace the longer version of the press conference by TMC leader Anubrata Mondal. The full video was shared by multiple local outlets, including Bangla Hunt, on April 23, 2026.
In the video reports, when a reporter asked Mondal what he felt about the first phase of elections in West Bengal, the TMC leader replied, "Brother, I have never seen this kind of voting in my life. A turnout of 96–97–98 percent, such a high turnout means votes are in Didi’s (TMC supremo and Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee) favour. Out of these 152 seats, I had initially said Trinamool Congress would get 130, and I doubt whether they (the other party) will even get 15–16."
The viral video omits the segment where Mondal mentioned that the high turnout reflected the support of people towards TMC and outlined his prediction of the party securing a majority of seats.
Later in the press conference, when asked about the possibility of TMC’s seat tally in the West Bengal assembly elections, Mondal said, "As I said, brother, it may even go up to 240. I have been saying 230–235. I have never seen such voting even in my (ancestral) lifetime."
Mondal also said that people were proactive and came in large numbers to exercise their voting rights. "People have cried, lost their lives because of SIR (Special Intensive Revision). These spirits are roaming around. They have knocked at the doors of people and asked them to come and vote for Didi," Mondal added.
