Mamata Banerjee swept out the Left after 34 years. She survived Nandigram in 2021 when every exit poll said she wouldn't. She built a welfare state that delivered cash, rice and dignity to Bengal's poorest — and made it personal. For 15 years,Mamata Banerjeewas the undisputed leader and beloved ‘didi’ of Indian state politics. On May 4, 2026, that reign ended. With the BJP leading in 191 of 294 seats as per the Election Commission of India’s counting trends — well past the 148-seat majority mark — the saffron party is set to form its first-ever government in West Bengal. A party that polled 0.4% in this state in 1984 has just dismantled the TMC's fortress. Here is exactly how it happened.

Mamata herself proved that in 2011, when she ended the Left's 34-year stranglehold. Anti-incumbency is not a mood, it is a mathematical certainty at some point. Fifteen years of the same party, same faces, same cadre networks, and the same complaints growing louder every cycle meant the wall had to break eventually. It broke today.

The 2024 rape and murder of a trainee doctor inside RG Kar Medical College, a government hospital in Kolkata, cracked Mamata Banerjee's most foundational political identity: that she governed for Bengal's women.

"I chose to fight in this election for my daughter and for women whose security is under threat under the TMC government. Mamata Banerjee and her corrupt party leaders are responsible for my daughter's death,” said Ratna Debnath, BJP candidate and mother of the RG Kar rape victim. She is leading in the Panihati assembly constituency in North 24 Parganas.

The protests in connection with the RG Kar rape and murder were sustained, nationally visible, and deeply felt. The Mamata government's handling – the delayed response, the allegations of evidence tampering at the crime scene, the optics of a state machine in damage-control mode – demolished years of carefully built brand equity with women voters. It never left the campaign. Women turned out at 93.24% in this election, per ECI data. Do your math.

Also Read:The Fall of Mamata: How Bengal Loss Shakes INDIA Bloc's 2029 Hopes

The Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) recruitment scam was not a headline, it was a kitchen table reality for lakhs of Bengali families. Young people who had cleared competitive exams, spent years preparing, watched jobs get sold to the highest bidder through a syndicate with documented links to the TMC. Courts intervened. Central agencies moved in. The Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government fought every step of accountability. For a generation of educated young voters in Bengal, the scam didn’t go well with them. For them, it probably was a hint that the party they voted for in the past 15 years is heading the Left way.

In January 2024, Enforcement Directorate officers went to Sandeshkhali to question TMC district council member Sheikh Shahjahan in connection with a ration fraud case. His supporters attacked the ED team, injuring three officers. Shahjahan fled and remained a fugitive for 55 days. No leader of the opposition party was allowed to visit Sandeshkhali. It was only when several women came forward with allegations of sexual assault and land grab against him and his associates that the Calcutta High Court intervened, reprimanding the Mamata government for four years of inaction on Sandeshkhali complaints. It ordered Shahjahan's arrest, transferred his custody to CBI, and has since rejected every bail plea. The CBI filed a 100-page chargesheet in May 2024. Trial is pending. Shahjahan remains in custody.

Every element of that sequence — the attack on central officers, the months-long absconding, the court having to force access, possibly played on loop nationally and stayed in voters' memory through polling day.

In a state with a proud tradition of mass political consciousness, voters watched the TMC transform into a family enterprise. Mamata Banerjee, who rose to power as a commoner, eventually turned the dynasty's way. Veteran leaders were sidelined. The party structure consolidated visibly around Mamata's nephew – Abhishek Banerjee. Suvendu Adhikari, once her loyalist and her most costly defector, had cited exactly this dynamic when he left. The perception of a bhaipo sarkar was not BJP propaganda. It was a lived TMC internal reality that senior party members themselves had spoken about on record.

Source: India Latest News, Breaking News Today, Top News Headlines | Times Now