Mamata Banerjee on Sunday said she did not believe the exit poll numbers projecting substantial gains for the BJP in Bengal and stressed that the Trinamool Congress would bag double the number of seats that some pollsters have predicted.

“What they are showing about our state... I don’t believe it, I don’t believe it, I don’t believe it. This is fake,” said the Bengal chief minister in her only official reaction to the exit polls during a telephone interview with TV9.

Several exit polls on Saturday predicted that the BJP would be comfortably ahead of the TMC — both in terms of vote share and seats — in the Lok Sabha polls in Bengal.

“What they have shown in the exit polls, we would get double the number,” Mamata said but refused to share any specifics.

Out of the 42 seats in Bengal, the TMC had got 22 in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The BJP’s tally stood at 18 while the Congress bagged two seats. Some pollsters predicted a gain of 8-10 seats for the BJP and a loss of 5-7 seats for the ruling party in Bengal.

“I have seen the exit polls in 2016, 2019 and 2021.... Not a single exit poll predicted the actual outcome,” Mamata said.

“I don’t agree with this calculation presented in the exit polls.... I urge my workers of the Trinamool Congress to stay strong and be at the counting centres with full enthusiasm,” she said, sending out a message to the party’s rank and file.

Multiple sources in the TMC camp admitted that the exit poll numbers had come as a shocker for the party, which has been confident about improving upon its 2019 performance. To keep the morale of the party workers high ahead of the counting day, TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee held a closed-door meeting with party leaders on Sunday evening and passed instructions to ensure no laxity at the counting centres.

In her interview with the private television network, Mamata held the BJP responsible for the one-sided predictions in the exit polls.

“This is BJP’s creation and then they feed it to the media.... The BJP has some people in their payrolls to create a wind and manipulate the final outcome,” she said before launching a bitter attack on a section of the media for their alleged allegiance to the BJP.

According to Mamata, the reality will be different. “The manner in which we worked on the ground, the signal that we got from the eyes of ordinary people, it never gave me an impression that the people would not vote for us,” she said.

Mamata said she was also unconvinced about the exit poll projections at the all-India level.

“I can’t say much about other states because I didn’t go to other states.... But I know that Akhilesh (Yadav of the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh), Tejaswi (Yadav of the RJD in Bihar), (M.K.) Stalin (in Tamil Nadu) and Uddhav (Thackeray of the Shiv Sena (UBT) in Maharashtra) would all do well.... Wherever there are regional parties, they would do well,” Mamata added.

“Those who are thinking that Narendra Modi will win with a huge margin are making a mistake.... It won’t happen this time,” she added.

The chief minister, however, did not give a clear answer on Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s prediction that the fledgling Opposition bloc would win 295 seats.

She was also evasive on whether the TMC would be a part of the central government if the INDIA bloc came to power. “This is a meaningless question at this juncture.... Let the results come,” she said.

The crucial question of the TMC’s relationship with the Congress at the national level also came up during the interview after Mamata alleged a secret entente between the BJP, Congress and the Left in Bengal.

“We fought against the BJP, Congress and the Left,” she said.

“At the all-India level, this (working with the Congress) won’t be a problem unless the CPM interferes.... I have one major problem. Everything is fine in the INDIA grouping, I support them also, but the CPM monitors them,” said Mamata.

Her reservations about breaking bread with the CPM — which tied up with the Congress in Bengal and the two partners launched an all-out attack against her — is believed to be one of the major reasons behind the INDIA bloc’s failure to put up a united fight against the BJP in the state.