The 5 factors that resulted in BJP finally winning in West Bengal

Alka Dhupkar & Arun GeorgeTIMESOFINDIA.COM
May 4, 2026 | 21:52 IST

BJP’s sweeping West Bengal win marks a dramatic expansion of its national footprint and a major setback for Mamata Banerjee’s TMC. Psephologist Sandeep Shastri decodes the verdict and what it means for INDIA’s future

The BJP’s sweep in West Bengal marks one of the sharpest political reversals in recent state elections. Five years after winning just 77 seats in the 294-member Assembly, the party is on course to win at least 214 seats on Monday — a mandate that not only ends Trinamool Congress’s long dominance in the state but also underlines the BJP’s position as the country’s most formidable political force.

Sandeep Shastri, a psephologist who has studied Indian elections for decades and is Vice President of the Nitte Education Trust, attributes the BJP’s comprehensive victory to five major factors. One of the most important, he said, was the party’s decision to completely alter its campaign strategy from the one it had adopted in the previous election.
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