One of the most aggressively fought election battles finally came to a close on 2 May, with a sweeping victory for the Trinamool Congress in the West Bengal Assembly polls.

The party is back to power for the third time in a row with an absolute majority, although party supremo Mamata Banerjee herself lost the prestige battle over the Nandigram seat to her former aide, Suvendhu Adhikari who had switched over to the BJP.

Counting of votes took place in there other states and a UT as well.

Yet, amidst all these states, it was the West Bengal results that grabbed the most attention, where the BJP's defeat has come as quite a shock to the party leadership.

A far cry from Modi-Shah's prediction of 200 seats, the party managed only 77 seats in the Assembly, although that is much more than the three seats they had bagged in the 2016 elections.

But more than an electoral defeat for the BJP, the West Bengal results are being seen as a striking blow to the BJP's brand of politics.

Despite the numerous defections of TMC heavyweights into the BJP, despite the blatant polarisation of Hindus and Muslims in the election rallies, despite a strong line-up of BJP campaigners to take on Mamata Banerjee with taunts and jibes, didi seems to have reserved Bengal for "bangla'r meye" and thwart the BJP's ambitions in the state.

But what is it that worked in the favour of TMC? How did Mamata Banerjee lead her party to such a phenomenal victory despite her incumbency? What does the election results mean for Bengal and what is the message for the BJP here? Tune in!

Host and Producer: Shorbori Purkayastha

Guest: Aditya Menon, Political Editor, The Quint

Editor: Shelly Walia

Music: Big Bang Fuzz

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