The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won the West Bengal state election, marking a historic upset for the Trinamool Congress (TMC) led by Mamata Banerjee. The BJP secured a decisive victory, winning 66 out of 142 seats in the second phase of voting, while the TMC's vote share collapsed from 48% in 2021 to 40.8%.
Banerjee lost her own constituency, Bhabanipur, by 15,105 votes, and the BJP's win is seen as a significant moment for the party since the 2014 Lok Sabha victory that installed Narendra Modi at the Centre.
Experts attribute the BJP's win to the TMC's governance failure, corruption cases, and a lack of rule of law, which led to a sharp increase in turnout, with 63.4 million votes cast at 93%.
The Muslim vote, on which the TMC had depended, fractured, with parties beyond the four main formations claiming 4.6% of the vote, which could have protected the TMC in marginal seats.
The BJP's promise of ₹3,000 a month directly undercut the TMC's Lakshmir Bhandar scheme, and women voters, previously Banerjee's most dependable constituency, appeared to shift as well.
Political analyst Debasish Dasgupta said the result exposed a structural weakness in the TMC, which relied entirely on Mamata's image rather than its organisational strength.
