West Bengal Elections 2026: How the state voted in 2021 – the year BJP led. india news
New Delhi: With both Trinamool Congress (TMC) and BJP have effectively started the battle of Bengal, announcing their candidate lists. While TMC has announced candidates for all 294 seats, the saffron party has so far declared names for 144 seats, covering almost half the assembly. The contest is largely being seen as a straight duel Mamata BanerjeePrime Minister led TMC and BJP Narendra Modi.The BJP now aims to challenge Mamata Banerjee’s more than decade-long rule. Its rise in the Bengali-speaking state has been astonishing, from almost zero presence to becoming the major opposition and a serious contender for power.The Modi-led campaign has consistently kept Mamata at the center of its political attacks, and targeted what is still an elusive prize – the country’s second-largest assembly – West Bengal.
2021: BJP’s turning point
The 2021 assembly elections proved to be a turning point. Despite being projected to win a landslide, the BJP secured 77 seats – falling short of power, but a dramatic increase from only 3 seats previously, and firmly establishing itself as a formidable opposition.In many ways, the 2021 election tells a bigger story than Mamata Banerjee’s victory, marking the BJP’s rise to prominence in Bengal politics.
How was the voting in Bengal in 2021?
Amit Shah, often called BJP’s ‘Chanakya’, had confidently announced during the campaign that the party would cross the 200-mark in the 294-member Assembly and had given the slogan “Abki Baar, 200 Paar”. However, the results tell a very different story.
BJP fell short not only of 200 but also half the figure of 147 seats.The result also came as a personal blow to many prominent faces of the party. Union minister Babul Supriyo, former Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta and Lok Sabha MP Locket Chatterjee are among those who lost their seats.
Voting patterns and missed counts
Much of the BJP’s strategy hinged on consolidating Hindu votes and garnering the support of Scheduled Caste (SC) communities, while closely watching whether Muslim voters would support TMC. In the end, the results showed that Muslim voters largely stood with Mamata Banerjee, while the SC votes did not consolidate in favor of the BJP as expected.
From the peak of BJP in 2019 to the setback in 2021
The assembly results were a setback compared to its strong performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. At that time, the BJP had won 18 out of 42 seats and was leading in 121 assembly constituencies with 40.2% vote share. In 2021, it secured 77 seats – 44 fewer than in the earlier constituencies and its vote share fell slightly to 38.13%.
BJP: A decade of rapid growth
Yet, behind the disappointment lies a remarkable story of growth. Exactly a decade ago, in the 2011 assembly elections, the BJP had failed to win a single seat and could only garner 4% of the votes. In 2014, it won two Lok Sabha seats with 18% vote share. In 2016, it won three assembly seats with about 10% of the votes. From there, 77 seats in 2021 and more than 38% vote share marks a dramatic increase.In the process, the BJP has replaced the Left and the Congress as the major opposition forces, which had dominated Bengal politics for decades. In an unprecedented result, while both the Left parties and the Congress got no seats, smaller players like the Rashtriya Secular Majlis Party and an independent candidate managed to win one seat each.BJP has not just won seats; It has created an organizational base, a cadre and a leadership structure in the state. That machinery, now firmly in place, is likely to shape its strategy for future battles, both the Lok Sabha elections and the next assembly contest.
battle of nandigram
Another important achievement for the BJP was the victory of its “giant killer” Suvendu Adhikari, who defeated Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram by a slim margin of 1,956 votes after a tough contest.The contest turned into a battle of prestige when Mamata herself decided to challenge Adhikari on his home turf. He had gone a step further and announced that he would quit politics if he failed to defeat her by 50,000 votes. Although he fell short of that ambitious claim, his eventual victory, even by a small margin, proved politically significant.The defeat dealt a symbolic blow to TMC’s landslide victory and means Mamata Banerjee will have to contest elections again for the Assembly within six months to remain the chief minister.