Supporters of Bharatiya Janata Party gesture during a campaign rally by Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of the West Bengal state Legislative Assembly elections, in Kolkata, India, Sunday, April 26, 2026.
| Photo Credit: AP
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seems to have finally breached West Bengal after years of threatening to defeat the formidable Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the most populous State in eastern India. Based on trends as of 1:30 PM, the ruling party at the Centre has managed to lead in 188 of the 294 Assembly seats, nearly two-thirds of the Assembly, relegating Mamata Banerjee’s TMC to a distant second with leads in 94 seats.
The BJP has done this by improving its vote share by nearly seven percentage points compared to 2021, garnering 44.8%, close to three points more than the TMC’s 41.9% (in coalition with the BGPM from the Darjeeling area). The Left Front-led alliance has registered a presence with 3 seats and a 6.4% vote share, its first non-zero seat tally in the State since 2016, if the leads hold. The Congress has drawn a blank so far.
Published – May 04, 2026 03:11 pm IST