Narendra Modi’s BJP wins election in West Bengal for the first time

Key points

• Narendra Modi’s party has won a resounding election victory in West Bengal, a state which had been a rare opposition stronghold, expanding his unrivalled consolidation of power across the country.
• It is the first time that the Indian prime minister’s Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) has won assembly elections in West Bengal, a large and politically significant state in eastern India.
• Over the past 15 years, the state had been ruled by Trinamool Congress (TMC), a key opposition party, under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee, their female chief minister.
• Banerjee had been one of the most outspoken critics of Modi and his religious nationalist agenda over his 12 years in power.
• But in a result that will have significant implications for India’s political landscape and deal another demoralising blow to the already weakened opposition, the BJP looked set to win more than 205 out of 294 seats in Bengal’s state assembly,...