In Mamata Landslide, Left-Congress Stare at Oblivion; BJP Sees a Silver Lining

Trinamool Congress' green will rule West Bengal once again. The colour that wiped out red in the 2011 Assembly elections after 34 years of Left Front rule is here to stay, at least for the next five years.

Mamata Banerjee has roared back to power for the second consecutive term with a bigger mandate than in 2011 when she with the Congress and delivered a crushing blow to the opposition.

Trinamool Congress' vote share increased from the 2011 figure of 38% to 45%. The seats went up from 184 five years ago to 211 while the opposition with the exception of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had nothing to cheer about.

An ecstatic Mamata is set to take oath once again as Chief Minister on May 27.

Despite the massive rout, the opposition is also the news maker in its own right. The Congress is disappointed at the performance and Left Front could not win over the Bengal voters in the manner it envisioned after joining hands with the former. The Left and Congress both maintain that the alliance was not a mistake.

It was not just a set back for Communist Party of India Marxist (CPIM) State Secretary Surya Kanta Mishra, who lost from his constituency Narayangarh, but also that the Left Front which is now relegated to the third spot in West Bengal with just 32 seats. The Congress fared better with 44 out of the 76 seats won by the alliance.

While WBPCC president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, too, said the alliance was not a mistake, the party can hardly claim to have done better than 2011 when it won 42 seats which increased by two in 2016. However, it is now the second largest party after the Trinamool Congress in the Assembly.

The alliance was an alternative for some of the urban populace that wanted to vote against the Trinamool Congress apart from the Left and Congress loyalists across the state. But the magic of the alliance failed to cut much ice even as allegations of corruption were made against the Trinamool Congress.

But the mandate was decisive. The alliance did not seem like a serious bet in a state where some questioned the quality of governance after five years of TMC rule.

Chowdhury while gracefully accepting defeat, said that these elections were fought in a presidential style -- either you vote for Mamata or you vote against her. It was not the promises of the opposition that cut much ice with the voters .

Only the BJP was all smiles, winning three seats and making its presence felt across several regions of West Bengal. Its candidates were first time lucky in these elections, unlike the previous two occassions when they made it to the Assembly winning one seat in the by-elections.

While Rahul Sinha was initially leading in Jorasanko constituency, it was a complete turnaround as he lost to Trinamool Congress’s Smita Bakshi. Jorasanko was where the impact of the Vivekananda flyover collapse was predicted to sting the Trinamool Congress the most.

There are many lessons to be learnt from these elections. While Mamata showed that corruption was not a strong issue to shake her from her throne, the Left-Congress alliance has learnt that much more needs to be done on the ground to convince voters of their mettle as a viable option, rather than just be a last minute marriage of convenience.

The BJP knows that regional politics go beyond the Narendra Modi factor working in its favour. But something has gone right for the BJP in West Bengal.

Now it is the road ahead that will shape people’s perception of the party before another election knocks the door.

So for the next five years it is not just the Trinamool Congress that will be put to test, but the opposition too, each looking to win the confidence of West Bengal’s voters.