The political fortress of West Bengal has finally fallen. After 15 years of unbroken rule by Mamata Banerjee’s Trinomool Congress (TMC), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has secured a historic and thumping mandate to form its first-ever government in the state.
According to the Election Commission of India’s final data, the BJP has surged past the magic figure of 148, leading or winning in 204 out of 293 seats that went to polls. The ruling TMC has been confined to 83 seats – a dramatic collapse for an incumbent that once dominated the state’s politics.
For TMC chairperson Mamata Banerjee, it is a bitter electoral medicine. While she managed to retain her Bhabanipur seat by a narrow margin against BJP heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari, the night belongs to the saffron camp.
The results have sent shockwaves through the political corridors of Kolkata. The BJP did not just breach the TMC’s fort; it bulldozed through it.
Key ministers in the Banerjee cabinet bit the dust in a dramatic fashion. Education Minister Bratya Basu, Women and Child Development Minister Shashi Panja, and Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya were all trailing or had lost their seats by significant margins as the counting progressed .
Significant victories were also recorded in North Bengal for the BJP, with the party winning the Darjeeling, Kalimpong, and Matigara-Naxalbari seats.
In a video message released from the counting centre, an emotional Mamata Banerjee alleged “irregularities” by the Election Commission and central forces. However, as the scale of the defeat became undeniable, she called for calm among her party workers.
The TMC, which won 213 seats in 2021 with a 48% vote share, saw its vote percentage drop significantly as the BJP consolidated the Hindu vote bank and made unprecedented inroads into the SC/ST belts.
Reacting to the landslide, Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted on X (formerly Twitter): “The Lotus blooms in West Bengal! People’s power has prevailed and BJP’s politics of good governance has triumphed. We will fulfil the dreams of the people of Bengal.”
The TMC offices in several districts were vandalised following the result, with allegations and counter-allegations flying between the two camps.
