Rahul Gandhi comes in support of Mamata Banerjee

We agree with Mamata Banerjee; more than 100 seats were stolen in West Bengal, says Congress leader Rahul Gandhi

Bengal gave mandate against TMC’s ‘corruption, tyranny’: CPM

CPM state secretary Mohammed Salim said people gave their mandate against the TMC’s “corruption, tyrannical rule and misgovernance” in the West Bengal assembly elections. Salim said the BJP filled the opposition space against the TMC in the state due to that. The BJP won 160 assembly seats and was leading in 48 constituencies till 9 pm, according to the Election Commission.

RG Kar victim’s mother wins in Panihati

RG Kar rape victim’s mother and BJP candidate Ratna Debnath has won votes in the Panihati Assembly constituency in North 24 Parganas.

The Panihati seat has emerged as one of the most closely watched contests in the West Bengal election, with Debnath facing TMC candidate Tirthankar Ghosh, the son of a five-time sitting MLA.

BJP victory 'immoral', looted more than 100 seats: Mamata Banerjee

TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee on Monday termed the BJP's landslide victory in the state polls "immoral" and alleged that the mandate in more than 100 seats was "looted".

"We will bounce back," she said while walking out of the counting centre at her Bhabanipur Assembly constituency.

Banerjee had reached the counting centre at Sakhawat Memorial Government Girls' High School on Lord Sinha Road in the afternoon amid allegations by the Trinamool Congress that one of its counting agents had been forced out of the venue.

As she came out of the centre, the TMC supremo was greeted by "Jai Shree Ram" slogans by BJP supporters emboldened by their party's sweep in the polls, even more sweetened by the 10,994 lead Suvendu Adhikari gained in Banerjee's Bhabanipur constituency.

A visibly distraught Banerjee told reporters that the BJP's victory was "immoral". "They have looted more than 100 seats," she alleged.

The TMC supremo alleged that the "EC's activities with the help of central forces in connivance with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were illegal".

Alleging that she received flak "for speaking out against the EC's malpractices", the TMC supremo said, "I lodged a complaint with Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Agarwal, but to no avail." "The CCTV was switched off while our agents were not allowed to be inside the counting centre," she claimed. 

Mamata Banerjee loses, Suvendu Adhikari wins Bhabanipur

The high-voltage Bhabanipur contest turned on its head on Monday, with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee losing to BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari by nearly 15,105 votes, after sharp swings that capped a steady erosion of her early lead in one of the state’s most closely watched battles.

After 18 rounds of counting, Banerjee was trailing by 11,003 votes, according to an official. The EC website, however, shows the trailing margin at 10,994, with the Trinamool Congress supremo polling 56,245 votes against Adhikari’s 67239.

The reversal marks a dramatic shift in a contest where the TMC supremo had earlier built a commanding advantage, only to see it steadily chipped away as the day progressed.

Banerjee had surged ahead by over 17,000 votes by the end of the seventh round, polling 32,822 votes against Adhikari’s 15,451, before the gap began narrowing in subsequent rounds.

Her lead dropped to 15,494 votes after the eighth round, slipped to 12,131 by the 10th, and further narrowed to 7,184 after 12 rounds.

By the 14th round, the margin had come down sharply to 3,830 votes, setting the stage for a tight finish.

The early rounds had already hinted at a fluctuating battle.

Banerjee opened with a lead of 1,996 votes in the first round, but Adhikari briefly moved ahead in the second by 1,558 votes.

The chief minister regained the lead in the third round and expanded it sharply before the advantage began to erode steadily.

The Bhabanipur seat, which has emerged as a prestige battleground, witnessed intense political activity throughout the day, with both leaders present at the counting centre.

BJP storms to majority in Bengal, wins 156 seats, leads in 52

The BJP stormed past the majority mark in the West Bengal assembly on Monday, winning 156 seats and leading in 52 others, taking its overall tally to 208, according to the Election Commission.

The halfway mark stands at 148 in the 294-member House, but with counting of votes currently underway for 293 seats as polling in Fata was countermanded, the majority mark dropped to 147.

The BJP cut through the ruling TMC's traditional strongholds and expanded its footprint in both urban and rural belts.

With this victory, the BJP will form its first government in the state, ending the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government's 15 years in power.

CPM wins Domkal constituency as Md Mostafijur Rahaman defeats TMC's Humayun Kabir by 16,296 votes

The CPI(M) emerged victorious in one seat in the West Bengal assembly this election, winning the Domkal constituency in Murshidabad district, after failing to open its account in the 2021 state polls.

Md Mostafijur Rahaman, the only Left Front candidate to win this election, defeated his nearest rival of the TMC by 16,296 votes, according to the Election Commission data.

The Left Front fielded candidates in 252 constituencies, with the CPI(M) contesting 195 seats, All India Forward Bloc in 23, CPI in 16, RSP in 16, RCPI in one and Marxist Forward Bloc in one.

The Left Front could not win a single seat in the 2021 assembly polls and also in the 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha elections in the 42 seats in West Bengal.

Mamata alleges denial of entry in strongroom; Suvendu leads by 563 votes in Bhabanipur

Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee told reporters that she was not allowed to enter the strongroom in Bhabanipur, while BJP's Suvendu Adhikari, trailing since morning, has finally taken a lead over her, with a margin of 563 votes.

PM Modi guarantee for Bengal: Green signal for Ayushman Bharat, action against infiltrators

Ayushman Bharat will be given green signal in WB in first Cabinet meeting; strict action to be taken against 'ghuspaithiyas': PM Modi

BJP secures Sandeshkhali as Rekha Patra defeats TMC's Ananda Sarkar from Hingalganj

Rekha Patra, the face of Sandeshkhali protests who has been projected as the BJP's face in the fight against atrocities on women in West Bengal, drubbed her TMC opponent by 5,421 votes on Monday.

A housewife from Sandeshkhali and an alleged torture victim of now-arrested TMC leader Shajahan Sheikh and his cohorts, Patra hit national headlines when she walked massive rallies against her oppressors carrying her girl child.

Although Patra lost from Basirhat in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP gave her another chance, fielding her from the Hingalganj Assembly seat.

She did not disappoint this time, winning the constituency by a margin of 5,421 votes. Patra polled 1,00,207 votes against TMC's Ananda Sarkar, who got 94,786 votes. 

Congress veteran Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury loses to BJP's Subrata Maitra in home turf Baharampur

Senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury suffered a defeat in the hands of BJP’s Subrata Maitra on Monday by a margin of 17,548 votes in his home turf of Baharampur in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district, according to the Election Commission.

Maitra, who retained the seat, bagged 91,088 votes compared to Chowdhury, who managed 73,540 votes in his kitty.

The BJP leader marginally improved on his 2021 performance of 89,340 votes to surge past the finish line.

Chowdhury, on the other hand, vastly improved the Congress party’s performance in the segment in the previous edition of the polls where the party’s nominee Manoj Chakrborty was pushed to the third position with 40,167 votes.

This was Chowdhury’s second successive defeat in his home turf within a span of two years, after he was humbled by TMC’s cricketer-turned-politician Yusuf Pathan in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, where he lost his long-held Baharampur parliamentary seat by a significant margin.

Abhishek Banerjee flags 'slow' counting, alleges discrepancies as BJP heads for sweep

Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee on Monday raised questions over the "unusually slow" counting process while the Assembly election results point to a clean BJP sweep.

Urging party workers to remain patient and not desert their posts by the counting centres, the TMC leader said that "Earlier, in 2021, nearly 90% of counting was completed within eight and a half hours; now, only 6–8 rounds have been completed in the same time frame."

Abhishek alleged that in many places, results are not being declred despite the counting process being concluded. "In Bardhaman Dakshin, the Trinamool Congress has already secured victory, yet a recount is being conducted. In Kalyani, there are at least eight EVMs where the control unit data does not match Form 17C", he added.

Modi in 'dhoti', PM joins BJP celebrations at party headquarters in Delhi after poll sweep across states

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived at the BJP headquarters in Delhi on Monday evening wearing a dhoti to join victory celebrations following the party’s sweep in Assam, Bengal and Puducherry.

Congress wins first seat in 2026 polls from Farakka, leads in Raninagar after barren show in 2021

The Congress party on Monday won the Farakka seat and is leading in Raninagar, overcoming the humiliation of not winning a single seat in the 2021 assembly election in West Bengal.

Motab Shaikh, whose name was not in the electoral rolls at first and was included by a tribunal set up by the Supreme Court to look into the deletions, defeated his nearest rival of the BJP by 8,193 votes, while the TMC candidate came third in the Murshidabad district constituency.

Shaikh secured 63,050 votes, while BJP's Sunil Chowdhuri got 54,857 votes and TMC's Amirul Islam got 47,256 votes, according to the Election Commission data.

Congress candidate Julfikar Ali is leading in Raninagar seat by 4,182 votes after the 14th round of counting over TMC's Soumik Hossain.

TMC veteran Madan Mitra wins from Kamarhati

Trinamool Congress leader Madan Mitra successfully retained the Kamarhati seat, winning with a margin of 5646 votes over BJP candidate Arup Choudhury.

Polling a total of 64,817 votes, Mitra hailed the result as "unexpected" in its scale.

Want to change Bengal's 'vote culture', BJP leader Samik Bhattacharya recalls 2021 poll violence

Bengal  BJP president Samik Bhattacharya expressed his intention to bring about "a change in the voting culture of West Bengal" during a press meeting in Kolkata.

As the trends are in favour of the BJP, Bhattacharya said, "The final result is yet to come, we will be talking after it comes, what trend we are seeing so far, one thing is clear, a BJP government is going to be formed with a huge majority... Our appeal to the workers of the BJP and TMC is to maintain peace. The blot of post-poll violence that is there on Bengal, the people have given us a majority to improve upon it, so people should maintain calm, we will be celebrating, but won't speak badly... We should celebrate it well. I would also like to request the administration to act if somebody tries to disturb the peace." 

TMC heavywight Shashi Panja tastes defeat in north Kolkata's Shyampukur to BJP's Purnima Chakraborty

Trinamool Congress Minister Shashi Panja suffered a defeat against the BJP's Purnima Chakraborty by a margin of 14,633 votes on Monday.

The BJP's rookie candidate secured 60,248 votes, while Panja got 45,615 votes in north Kolkata's Shyampukur assembly constituency, according to Election Commission data.

A three-time MLA from the Shyampukur seat in north Kolkata from 2011, Panja has been a minister in the Mamata Banerjee government since 2013, holding various portfolios, including the charge of the women and child development department.

A doctor from R G Kar Medical College and Hospital, Panja, is married to the son of former Union Minister and Trinamool Congress leader Ajit Panja.

PM Modi credits BJP’s Bengal win to generations of cadre effort, resilience to adversities

PM Modi attributed the BJP’s record win in West Bengal to the "efforts and struggles" of countless Karyakartas over generations.

The PM said, "I salute them all. For years, they have worked hard on the ground, overcome all sorts of adversities and spoken about our development agenda. They are the strength of our Party", in a post on X.

BJP's victory in Bengal 'not through the right means': Raut blames communalism, SIR for Mamata's defeat

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Monday said hatred, communalism and SIR (Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls) defeated Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal, adding that the BJP achieved victory in the eastern state "not through the right means".

Talking to reporters, Raut said the candle burns brightest right before it burns out. This is the beginning of the end of the NDA, the Rajya Sabha MP claimed.

He also said it is time for the Opposition to unite as major parties like the DMK in Tamil Nadu and TMC in West Bengal are headed for defeat.

"Hatred, communalism, SIR stopped Mamata Banerjee's victory. Her defeat was impossible. Today's BJP victory was achieved not through right means," Raut said while pointing out that 92 lakh names were deleted from the voters list in the SIR carried out by the Election Commission.

He further alleged that central para-military forces also helped BJP workers.

The BJP allied with the Election Commission, which led to TMC's defeat, Raut said.

"Even if the BJP wins in West Bengal or Assam, it is not easy for them to govern the country. What great work has the NDA done in the last one year. There is unemployment, there is inflation, people are not getting gas cylinders. India's image is being defamed," Raut said.

Reacting to the assembly poll results, NCP (SP) leader Rohit Pawar said anti-incumbency appeared to have affected the INDI bloc parties in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

If elections were held now, similar public sentiment could unseat those in power at the Centre and in Maharashtra, he said in a swipe at the BJP.

"It was expected that DMK in Tamil Nadu and Trinamool Congress in West Bengal would return to power, but both seem to have faced anti-incumbency. Those celebrating these results should remember that the same sentiment exists against them as well," Pawar claimed.

He alleged that Union Home Minister Amit Shah campaigned in West Bengal for 15 days, while 90 lakh names were removed through the SIR process, which helped clear the path for BJP's victory.

Pawar further criticised the BJP, alleging that its workers vandalised an office of the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal amid declaration of results.

"Even before the final results were declared, such incidents show how governance may unfold in the future," he said while condemning the act.