West Bengal assembly poll results to reshape Indian politics
The saffron party has always considered Bengal as the “final frontier” of its pan-India political expansion
The BJP appears on course for victory in West Bengal Assembly elections over Mamata Banerjee-led TMC, a result that is likely to resonate beyond the state's borders. It is expected to reshape the contours of national politics in the coming months.
The saffron party has always considered Bengal as the "final frontier" of its pan-India political expansion. Now it is likely to breach a state stonewalled for nearly half a century by Left parties for 34 years from 1977 to 2011 and TMC for 15 years from 2011.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said today that the "aftershocks" of the West Bengal poll results would be felt till the next parliamentary elections in 2029.
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With two major regional satraps TMC and DMK (Tamil Nadu) on course of being voted out of power, it could trigger a churn in opposition alliance INDIA led informally by Congress, further consolidating Rahul Gandhi's party as the numero uno status in it.
A senior RSS leader was quoted by The Indian Express as saying it was the first time since the 1905 division of Bengal that Hindu consolidation took place in the state.
Both Mamata and DMK chief M K Stalin are among the strongest opposition faces and the electoral defeat of their parties come as a boost to BJP-led NDA.
The result could see more leaders and parties, particularly regional parties, switching sides. India's political journey henceforth is likely to be clear and BJP is back with a major gain after it failed to secure a majority on its own in the 2024 national elections.
In Bengal, the scale of the result brought out the shift in vote share patterns. While BJP's vote share surged to nearly 49% from what it was five years ago, TMC's fell to about 42%.
The biggest factor that led to the change in vote shares of the two parties is the churn in 177 constituencies where deletion of voters due to Special Intensive Revision of rolls exceeded the victory margins witnessed in the previous elections in 2021 when TMC had won a landslide victory.
