Two voters at saffron-drenched 6 Muralidhar Sen Lane in Kolkata, the old headquarters of the BJP in Bengal, on Monday evening typified the BJP’s sweep of the 2026 Assembly election.
“I have always been with the ruling party,” Bikram Poddar, who calls himself a BJP worker from Nadia’s Ranaghat, told The Telegraph Online amid “Jai Shree Ram” chants inside the crowded party office.
“Since 2021 I have been a BJP worker,” Poddar, 37, added.
By 5pm, the writing on the wall was clear. The Trinamool was on its way out and the BJP is the new ruling party in Bengal, a frontier that had eluded Narendra Modi and Amit Shah for the last 12 years.
“This victory is for Abhaya [the trainee doctor raped and murdered at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in August 2024]. This victory is the victory of Haragobindo Das [Das and his son, Chandan, were killed by a mob in Murshidabad’s Shamsherganj during the anti-Waqf bill protests in 2025],” said a BJP supporter.
“This victory is the victory of every Hindu. This victory is the victory of every Sanatani,” Poddar told another BJP supporter in saffron colours.
Poddar had travelled to Murshidabad’s Bhagabangola the day the party nominee, Bhaskar Sarkar, filed his nomination.
“That seat [Bhagabangola] was not ours to win. But I knew Babu da [Parthasarathi Chatterjee] will win again from Ranaghat Uttar Pashchim,” he said.
Ahead of the 2021 Bengal Assembly election, Chatterjee had switched from the Trinamool to the BJP and won the seat. He retained it five years later on Monday as the BJP romped home.
Standing close to Poddar was 25-year-old Suddhaloke Ghosh, a resident of north Kolkata’s Maniktala.
“In the three or four elections that I have voted, my vote always went to the BJP,” said the youngster, who said he dabbles in the stock market.
Suddhaloke Ghosh. Picture: Arnab Ganguly.
In a series of posts on X, Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked and assured the people of Bengal.
"The Lotus blooms in West Bengal! The 2026 West Bengal Assembly Elections will be remembered forever. People's power has prevailed and BJP's politics of good governance has triumphed. I bow to each and every person of West Bengal," he said.
He said the BJP's record victory in Bengal would not have been possible without the efforts and struggles of countless karyakartas (workers) of the party over generations.
"I salute them all. For years, they have worked hard on the ground, overcome all sorts of adversities and spoken about our development agenda. They are the strength of our party," he said.
Poddar and Ghosh are among them.
The Election Commission website at 7.10pm stated the BJP had won 77 seats and was leading in 127. The Trinamool after 15 years in power had won 33 seats and was leading in 53.
Around 45.57 per cent of the electors in Bengal had voted for the BJP per latest reports, while the Trinamool’s vote share stood at 40.80 per cent.
Five years ago, when the BJP’s juggernaut in Bengal halted at 77 seats, the party had bagged around 38 per cent of the votes; the Trinamool with 48 per cent votes had bagged 213 seats.
On Monday evening, the BJP supporters could cite any number of reasons to justify the wave.
Outside in the narrow lane, men, women and children shouted “Jai Shri Ram” at the sight of Suvendu Adhikari, the face of the party in Bengal, and state party president Samik Bhattacharya.
While Poddar and Ghosh celebrated inside with other party supporters, Adhikari and Bhattacharya – along with former state BJP president Rahul Sinha – stood on a makeshift dais with their arms raised high
The three headed for the BJP’s new office in suburban Salt Lake to address the media.
“In the last 10 years we have seen how the day of announcing results changed at this office,” said a BJP karyakarta.
“Earlier there would hardly be anyone. In 2014 we had only two MPs. In the 2016 Assembly too we could not make much dent. Then 2019 happened when we got 18 MPs. In the last five years things have changed. We could never imagine such a day would come for us but it has happened.”