Barely a month after the BJP’s historic landslide ended 15 years of Trinamool Congress rule, Mamata Banerjee’s once-invincible party is rapidly disintegrating into a spectacle of opportunism, defections and panic. The speed of the collapse has been breathtaking. The first crack appeared in the Assembly last week when 58 TMC legislators openly defied the party line and backed rebel leader Ritabrata Banerjee’s claim to the post of Leader of the Opposition. The revolt was a publ

While democracy needs a credible opposition, it is not the BJP’s responsibility to create one. Elections in India since 2014 have increasingly generated an engaging debate- the “lack” of a political opposition to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Barring a few setbacks, especially the 2024 general elections, most electoral contests since 2014 have recorded a steady and spectacular march of the BJP. The post-West Bengal iteration of this debate has an even graver existentiali

In India’s political imagination, the Election Commission occupies a curious space. It is one of the republic’s most powerful constitutional bodies, yet it often behaves like a nervous clerk caught between warring political factions. That is partly why Gyanesh Kumar has become such a consequential figure, especially after his recent triumphal conduct of key Assembly polls, particularly that in the volatile eastern state of West Bengal. At a time when institutions are routinel

Political and Geopolitical forces behind the killing in West Bengal New Delhi: The 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections have not only signaled a new trajectory in Indian politics but have also stirred ripples in global geopolitics. The unprecedented victory of the BJP in the state brought to light events that reveal how the long-standing cycle of political power struggles and violence is now emerging in a new form. The most alarming manifestation of this shift came late Wedne

The shocking murder of BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari’s closest aide Chandranath Rath on a public road in Madhyamgram, immediately aftert he BJP scored a historic landslide in the West Bengal Assmebly election by toppling Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, is not merely another political killing in the state. It is the logical culmination of a culture of gangsterism that has flourished under Mamata Banerjee’s rule for over a decade and a half. Bengal has long witnessed violen

Assam and West Bengal signalled a broader political shift: traditional regional loyalties no longer guarantee voter allegiance. The political landscape of eastern India has undergone a profound transformation over the past decade, culminating in significant electoral victories for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in states like Assam and, to a more complex extent, its rise as a dominant challenger in West Bengal. These developments are not isolated electoral outcomes but refl

Writing this piece, I find myself thinking of Shakespeare’s Margaret. Those who have read the Henry plays or Richard III will understand why. Margaret rose from nothing to the heart of English royal power. She fought, she governed, and she eventually became an irrelevant shadow haunting the court of her enemies, clutching at past glories, refusing to accept defeat. On the political stage of West Bengal, that scene has just been performed again. Let me go back a little to some

New Delhi: The recent electoral outcomes in West Bengal are more than mere numbers, but they carry a clear message that Bengali Hindus are now openly voicing their demands for security, dignity, and a future of young and next generation. For the past fifty years, and especially over the last fifteen, the Hindu community in the state has often been treated as second-class citizens. Their lands have been encroached upon, their homes and families threatened, and their social, cu

BJP candidate for Bhabanipur and Nandigram constituencies Suvendu Adhikari, who defeated West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the prestigious Bhabanipur seat, shows a certificate of election on Monday. Pic: PTI Mumbai: The Bengali word “Poriborton” translates to profound change. While it was initially fiercely utilized as the central battle cry for the assembly elections in West Bengal, the final tally from all five state elections reveals that the spirit of the word

The keenly-contested state elections in four states and a union territory witnessed mandates that have taken a tectonic turn in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The voters here have delivered verdicts that have completely upended entrenched narratives and redrawn the Indian political map with unusual force. The most dramatic upheaval unfolded in West Bengal, where the Bharatiya Janata Party pulled off what once seemed improbable: dislodging Mamata Banerjee and her All Indi

Exit polls, like monsoon forecasts, are best treated with scepticism. India’s recent electoral history is littered with confident projections that dissolved on counting day. Yet even allowing for their fallibility, the latest round of projections across four states and one Union Territory offers some clear indications of churn in the east, cautious continuity in the south and consolidation in the north-east. The most keenly contested and eagerly watched state is West Bengal,

Once a powerhouse, the state now faces debt, deindustrialisation and a steady flight of capital and labour For a state that once stood as one of India’s foremost economic engines, West Bengal, for the better part since Independence, has been caught in a prolonged cycle of stagnation, fiscal stress and outward migration. The promise of political change has come and gone across regimes, from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) to the All India Trinamool Congress, but the und

Political circle wonders whether the historic 92.88 per cent turnout reflects anti-incumbency or stronger support for the ruling regime Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves during a roadshow amid the ongoing West Bengal Assembly elections in Dum Dum, North 24 Parganas district. New Delhi: West Bengal's political landscape appears to be scripting a new narrative this time, one written through numbers, but rich in deeper meaning. In the first phase of the assembly elections, 92.8

For a state as fractious and combustible as West Bengal, the first phase of the 2026 assembly election delivered a record 92.89 percent turnout, which was roughly ten percentage points higher than in 2021. The credit for this disciplined exercise, in no small measure, belongs to the Election Commission which managed to conduct a largely peaceful poll in a state where elections have historically been anything but tranquil. Following a controversial Special Intensive Revision (

The Women’s Reservation Bill, proposing 33 percent quotas in Parliament, ran aground on the shoals of a missing two-thirds majority. Yet, its failure may prove less a setback for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) than a carefully staged gambit, especially ahead of key Assembly elections in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. On the face of it, the government’s push appeared quixotic. Without the requisite numbers, legislative success was improbable. But politics is about shapin