TMC retains West Bengal; DMK unseats AIADMK; Left wins Kerala
The counting of votes for the Assembly elections of four states and one Union Territory is currently underway and the figures from West Bengal have dominated headlines. Trinamool Congress (TMC) has managed to retain the state, defeating Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in a bitterly-fought election. Party supremo Mamata Banerjee also won from Nandigram. In Kerala, the LDF will return for a second straight term.
Banerjee's former aide Suvendu Adhikari tasted defeat
At the time of publishing, TMC was leading on 207 out of the 294 seats and BJP on 82. It should be noted that Banerjee's former aide Suvendu Adhikari was leading from Nandigram during the early hours of the day. But she caught up and defeated him by 1,200 votes. Accepting defeat, BJP's Kailash Vijavargiya credited Banerjee for TMC's performance.
BJP's Rajnath Singh congratulated Banerjee
Congress failed to reclaim Assam, BJP poised to form government
In neighboring Assam, BJP took a comfortable lead on 78 out of the 126 seats. The Congress and its partners performed well on merely 47 seats. The grand old party had fought hard to win its one-time citadel. Pleased with the trends, incumbent CM Sarbananda Sonowal said, "People have blessed us. We can say for sure that the BJP will form government in Assam.."
LDF set for second term, breaks 40-year-long tradition
Separately, in Kerala, the incumbent LDF took a lead on 90 of the total 140 seats. The other major coalition, UDF, could win just 44 seats. An LDF win is important as Kerala has a 40-year-long tradition of choosing alternative parties. Notably, metro man, E Sreedharan, who emerged as a BJP heavyweight, was also trailing from the Palakkad Assembly seat.
DMK wins Tamil Nadu; AINRC performs well in Puducherry
The DMK has emerged as another winner today as it was ahead on 135 seats. The governing AIADMK took a lead on 95 out of the total 234 seats. In Puducherry, N Rangaswamy's AINRC performed well on eight out of the 30 seats. Its ally, BJP, took a lead on three seats. Similarly, DMK and Congress surged ahead on three seats each.
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