Episode 87: Assembly Elections Special – West Bengal Welcomes Mamata Banerjee; BJP wins Assam

Of the four states and one union territory that went to election over March and April, West Bengal, rightly or wrongly, was the centre of attention. On election day, it was West Bengal once again that invited the most discussion. This was partly due to the overwhelming verdict in favour of Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in Bengal despite the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi having focused considerable energies and resources on the state. The result also upended most exit polls which had predicted a close contest with some surveys having forecast a BJP sweep. The Bengal verdict put into shade somewhat the results in Assam where the incumbent BJP government returned comfortably to office. To discuss the West Bengal and Assam election results, Dr Ronojoy Sen, Senior Research Fellow, ISAS, spoke to Dr Neelanjan Sircar, a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research and Assistant Professor at Ashoka University. Sircar followed both state elections closely and was present in both states during the campaign.