The outcome of the recent round of assembly elections in different states turned out to be a major setback for anti BJP political forces in India. While BJP, currently the ruling party at the centre, managed to win three out of five states where assembly elections were held, only one state favoured anti BJP forces. The state election verdict also clearly indicated that the anti BJP parties would have to put much more efforts to give decent fight to the ruling party in the coming electoral battles including assembly elections scheduled next year as well as the 2029 general elections.

        Apart from the centre, the BJP and its allies are now ruling in as many as 22 out of 28 Indian states.  

        The most shocking and humiliating defeat for anti BJP forces came in the eastern India state of West Bengal where the ruling regional outfit Trinamul Congress was drubbed by the BJP in a spectacular fashion. While BJP managed to capture as many as 207 out of a total number of 294 assembly seats, the Trinamul which was ruling the state for last 15 years, could bag only 80 seats. ’’It was certainly a historic mandate’’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said while addressing party cadres at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi soon after the assembly results were out.

       PM Modi who had campaigned extensively in West Bengal had played a key role in his party’s grand electoral success in the eastern Indian state.

         The pro BJP wave in West Bengal was so intense that even Trinamul president and chief minister Mamata Banerjee could not retain her own seat. Firebrand BJP heavyweight Suvendu Adhkari defeated her by a margin of more than 15000 votes in Bhawanipur constituency located in Kolkata.

        Interestingly, it was the same Subbhendu Adhikri who had defeat her in Nandigram constituency during the last assembly elections held in 2021. The stunning defeat, however, had not been able to prevent her from becoming chief minister for a third consecutive term as her party had managed to get required number of seats to form the government. Subsequently, she had got herself elected to the state assembly in a by-poll from Bhawanipur which she has lost now.

          Adhikari was once a prominent member of Trinamul Congress and was considered very close to Mamata Banerjee. He, however, decided to quit the regional outfit a few years back and joined BJP. If party sources are to be believed differences cropped up between the two when Mamata started promoting her nephew Abhisekh Banerjee, currently a Member of Indian Parliament(Lok Sabha).

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