Modi’s party makes surprise gains in state elections
India’s Ruling BJP clinched a win in the key state of West Bengal for the first time in history
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) made unprecedented gains in regional elections, according to the results announced by the Election Commission on Monday.
Votes for the election, which was held in April, were counted throughout the day on Monday across four states – Tamil Nadu, Assam, West Bengal and Kerala – and the union territory of Puducherry.
The BJP swept to victory in the northeastern state of West Bengal, a major battleground, for the first time in the state’s history, taking power from the opposition Trinamool Congress led by popular politician Mamata Banerjee. Modi’s party also retained its position in the neighboring state of Assam for the third consecutive term.
The BJP also made surprise gains in the southern state of Kerala, winning three seats for the first time. In Kerala, the main opposition party, Indian National Congress, returned to power, defeating a coalition led by the Left parties. However, the Congress failed to make gains in other states.
The election results are viewed by political commentators in India as a significant boost for Modi and the BJP, which has governed at the federal level for three consecutive terms since 2014 but is now facing strong resistance to its plans to increase parliamentary seats ahead of the 2029 general elections.
Addressing party workers at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi, Modi called the win in West Bengal “historic and unprecedented.”
Aftershocks of these results will be felt for a long time, probably all the way up to 2029, Omar Abdullah, a prominent opposition politician from India’s Jammu and Kashmir, said.
Elections in India have always meant @PrannoyRoy7749 for sane, sensible interpretation of the trends & results and that’s why today the screens in my office have been tuned to @DeKoderAI to watch the unfolding political earthquake in West Bengal & Tamil Nadu. The aftershocks of…
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) May 4, 2026
Elections in Tamil Nadu brought another surprising victory – that of recently formed party Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) led by actor-turned-politician Vijay. The party won 107 seats in its electoral debut, thus becoming the largest single party. It also shattered the decades-long domination of the two key regional parties, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).
In this southern state, over 12 million voters aged between 18 and 29 made up 21.2% of the electorate, local media reported, noting that the scale of participation of the so-called Gen-Z likely influenced the outcome.
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