TMC Fails to Win in Nine of West Bengal’s 23 Districts

Kolkata: The BJP whitewashed the Trinamool Congress in nine of the 23 districts of West Bengal, racking up all 68 seats these regions had to offer on its way to paint the state saffron in the watershed election.

As the party marched to power in the state for the first time, the mandate in these nine districts -- from north Bengal's hills to the central part of the south -- has shown that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had correctly predicted in his campaign trail that TMC would fail to open its account in multiple districts.

The BJP won 206 seats to secure more than a two-thirds majority in the West Bengal assembly polls, ending the TMC's 15-year rule as it was decimated to around 80 in the 294-strong Assembly.

The result also marked the BJP's decisive breach of its last major eastern bastion, completing its saffron arc across 'Anga, Banga and Kalinga' (Bihar, Bengal and Odisha).

At the very top of the BJP's performance chart is the Purba Medinipur district, where its most prominent poll achiever, Suvendu Adhikari, ensured the party's dominance was complete.

BJP won all 16 of the seats in the district, bettering its previous poll performance of 15 to one. The results of the 2024 general elections had shown that the TMC had maintained a lead in the Patashpur assembly segment.

Observers opine that Adhikari's influence was on the rise in the backyard of his hometown Kanthi ever since he defected to the BJP in 2020, and the results of the 2026 edition of the state polls confirmed that his grip over the district is now absolute.

In the hills, the TMC, or even its allies there, failed to leave a footprint in the four districts of Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri, and Alipurduar that had 18 seats.

The BJP bagged 40 of the 54 assembly seats in the entire north Bengal, slashing the Trinamool's tally from its earlier 23 seats to just 14.

With all hill seats now in the BJP's kitty, the buzz around the future of the Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA), the Mamata Banerjee-backed semi-autonomous hill administrative body, has reached its crescendo.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah's promise of a "permanent solution to the hill problems within the ambit of the Constitutional framework" was interpreted by party MP Raju Bista as an announcement to scrap the GTA, if the BJP was voted to power.

With the TMC's ally Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha losing all the hill seats, its chief Anit Thapa, who doubles up as the GTA chief, attributed the debacle to the "overall anti-establishment voting" that took place in the state.

A local voter said, "We are eagerly looking forward to the kind of permanent solution the BJP proposes for the hills, now that the party is in power both in the state and at the Centre."

He acknowledged that any decision on the GTA would impact the hill politics, currently led by Thapa.

In the foothills, the TMC mayor of the Siliguri civic body and the party's defeated candidate, Goutam Deb, said SIR deletions and added factors concerning the administration led to the disastrous performance.

In the entire central Bengal's forest-covered areas of Purulia, Bankura and Jhargram, called Jungal Mahal in local parlance, the TMC drew a total blank. The party was routed in all nine seats of Purulia, 12 in Bankura and four in Jhargram.

Observers said the significant presence of the Kudmi-Mahato community members in the region, whose allegiance shifted to the saffron camp this time on account of their disgruntlement over dilly-dally in awarding Scheduled Tribes status, seems to have adversely affected the TMC's fortunes.

The BJP fielded Rajesh Mahata, a former Kudmi Samaj leader, as a candidate from Gopiballavpur adjacent to Jhargram, and Biswajit Mahata, son of community leader Ajit Mahata, from Joypur in neighbouring Purulia district.

The perceived split in the tribal community votes, forced migration on account of shrinking job opportunities, wide factional cracks within the TMC and possible internal sabotage linked to disappointments over the choice of candidates were seen as additional factors accounting for Mamata Banerjee's poor performance in the area.

In a remarkable swing of poll fortunes, the BJP painted the entire Paschim Bardhaman district saffron, wresting six seats from the TMC, which the party had won in the 2021 assembly polls, and retaining the remaining three.

Local TMC workers said the "arrogance" of a section of district leaders and their focus on "personal gains instead of public services delivery" made the party grossly unpopular among people.

Jitendra Tewari, a former TMC leader who switched to the BJP and won the Pandabeswar seat of the district's coal mining belt in the current elections, interpreted the verdict as an overwhelming mandate to "reindustrialise Bengal, create job opportunities and ensure safety of women".