The results of a five state and Union Territory election revealed a surprise Monday when Indian prime minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party won control of the West Bengal legislature. The state in the country's east has been known as an opposition stronghold, governed since 2011 by INDIA alliance member Trinamool Congress and before that by the Communist Party of India (Marxist). The BJP took 208 out of 294 seats in the legislature in a landslide victory, defeating Trinamool Congress founder and Modi critic Mamata Banerjee. The parting chief minister of West Bengal accused the BJP of using fraudulent methods to achieve the victory by purging voter rolls, especially of Muslims which are likely to be critical of the party's Hindu-first politics.
The BJP win marks a stark departure from the pan-religious attitudes of the state's previous leaders. Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress officials were weakened by accusations of widespread corruption and several scandals, including the alleged sale of government jobs as well as the rape and killing of a young doctor that raised serious safety concerns in Calcutta in 2024.
Despite losing its absolute majority in India's latest national parliamentary elections in 2024, the BJP has been going strong on the state level and now controls almost 72 percent or 23 of India's 32 state and Union Territory legislatures. The biggest part is governed by the BJP directly while in four states, National Democratic Alliance partners are in charge. This applies to Andhra Pradesh (Telugu Desam Party), Sikkim (Sikkim Revolutionary Front), Meghalaya (National People's Party) and Nagaland (Naga People's Front). Looking at the population of the states it governs, the BJP now counts more than three quarters of Indians as its constituents on the state level. The BJP was the biggest party in just nine state legislatures 10 years ago. This has now grown to 16 it controls directly.
The BJP also extended its influence in other states strongly associated with opposition powers that also voted this April. However, gains were rather modest as the party achieved three seats in Kerala and one in Tamil Nadu. While Kerala remains firmly in control of BJP competitor Indian National Congress and its allies, Tamil Nadu saw another upset when a party that is just over two years old and was founded by Tamil superstar actor Vijay won the election ahead of regionally well established Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (Dravidian Progressive Federation).
