NEW DELHI ,4 May 2026,: In an upset of the Assembly elections, the BJP came to power in West Bengal with a sweep of 191 seats in the House of 294 as against ruling Trinamul Congress slipping to 97 while Tamil actor Joseph Vijay’s TVK secured 105 seats in the Tamil Nadu House of 234, swipping the ruling DMK to 70 and ADMK to 58 and the Congress bagged Kerala with UDF led by it scoring 91 seats out of 140 as against the left-led LDF slipping to 34 seats.
There were no upsets only in Assam where the BJP won 99 seats as against 23 by Congress and the ruling NDA led by MHG scored 18 seats in Puducherry as against 7 bagged by the Congress. Chief Minister Rangasamy led from Thattanchavady in Puducherry. Gaurav Gogoi, deputy leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha, lost from Jorhat in Assam where the BJP neared 100-seat mark.
The BJP arranged a massive gathering in the party headquarters here to celebrate the Bengal victory, with Prime Minister Modi agreed to attend the celebrations in the evening.
Actor Vijay of Tamilage Vettri Kazhagam scripted Tamil Nadu blockbuster, outclassing the Dravidian giants. Vijay, who remained absent from the celebrations while his film-maker father invited Congress to join hands with TVK irrespective of it wins on its own or not.
Chief Minister MK Stalin and his Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam were widely seen as the favourites.
The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam – rudderless since the death of party icon J Jayalalithaa in December 2016 – was seen to be in a re-building phase, with questions over the leadership nous of ex-Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami.
Doubts were also cast over EPS’ decision to re-align with the Bharatiya Janata Party – the acrimonious split of September 2023 apparently a thing of the past – given its dismal track record in the state, a political puzzle it hasn’t yet solved.
The stage seemed set for the DMK to claim a second term; Stalin exuded confidence last week when he said: “There is no doubt about victory. I am saying this not on the basis of exit polls but on the basis of feelings of party workers I see.”
