The strong anti-incumbency wave and the nearly 12% reduction in the voter list due to the SIR process led to the collapse of the Trinamool Congress fortress, leading to a historic victory for the BJP in the state, often seen as the last frontier for the party that has been in power at the Center since 2014.BJP had won 206 seats and was leading on one after securing 45.8% votes. TMC’s vote share declined from 48% to 40.8% in 2021, its 215 seats in the outgoing assembly reduced to 81 (wins and gains till midnight), indicating a sharp move away from the party that had championed Bengal’s fundamentalism over nationalist politics.There could be a huge deficit in votes in some TMC strongholds like South 24 Parganas, East Burdwan and Howrah, as the BJP has won large parts of the state from north to south. The saffron party dominated almost completely in the north and in the south-western districts of Jhargram, Purulia and East Midnapore, the TMC was completely decimated.The fatal blow was the saffron surge among urban and suburban voters in Kolkata and its outskirts – Mamata’s southern fort, where she had 123 seats out of 142. The number dropped to 52 as TMC lost 10 seats in Kolkata (including Mamata’s own Bhawanipur), a large part of North 24 Parganas (including Panihati, where the mother of rape and murder victim RG Kar junior doctor was the BJP candidate) and Howrah.