The Bharatiya Janata Party defeated the Trinamool Congress in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections as the votes were counted on Monday.

The Hindutva party won 207 seats in the 294-member Assembly, ending a 15-year rule of the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC.

A party or an alliance needs 148 seats in the Assembly to secure a majority.

The TMC had won 80 seats and was leading in one, data from the Election Commission showed at 7.15 am on Tuesday.

The Congress and former minister Humayun Kabir’s Aam Janata Unnayan Party won two seats each.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the All India Secular Front secured one win each.

Votes in 293 constituencies were counted on Monday as the Election Commission has ordered repolling in the Falta Assembly seat citing “severe electoral offences”. The polling there will be held on May 21 and the votes will be counted on May 24.

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On Saturday, repolling had also been held in 15 booths in the Diamond Harbour and Magrahat constituencies following reports from election officials and observers, and “material circumstances”.

Polling in the state was held in two phases on April 23 and April 29 with a record provisional voter turnout of 92.4%.

TMC alleges irregularities in counting

Earlier on Monday, the TMC alleged irregularities in the counting process, claiming that there was a delay and lack of transparency in the release of trends.

Party MP Sagarika Ghose questioned the Election Commission why it was not releasing trends for all 293 seats. “More than 70+ seats trends have been intentionally not shown by EC,” she said on social media. “Please immediately release the data for all 293 seats.”

TMC leader and West Bengal minister Shashi Panja had alleged that poll personnel were delaying the entry of authorised counting agents of political parties into counting centres, PTI reported.

In Asansol, tension erupted outside a vote counting centre following reported clashes between supporters of the BJP and the TMC. Police personnel and central security forces resorted to a lathi charge to bring the situation under control, IANS reported.

Follow Scroll’s coverage of the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections here.

The exit polls had forecast mixed results, with some predicting a win for the ruling Trinamool Congress and others for the Bharatiya Janata Party. TMC chief Mamata Banerjee claimed that the exit polls were “fabricated” and meant to demoralise her party’s supporters.

The Banerjee-led TMC has been in power since 2011. The main Opposition in the state over the years has shifted from the Left Front to the BJP.

In 2021, the BJP had won 77 seats and the TMC 215. The Left Front, the Congress and some smaller parties who had contested the polls in an alliance had won just one seat despite securing a 10% vote share.

Voter roll revision

The elections followed a special intensive revision of electoral rolls by the Election Commission across 12 states and Union Territories, including West Bengal.

Final rolls published in February initially excluded over 61 lakh voters, with the process continuing through supplementary lists and adjudication of about 60 lakh “doubtful and pending” cases.

By April 6, about 91 lakh voters, nearly 11.9% of the electorate before the process began, had been removed.

Those removed were allowed to appeal before 19 appellate tribunals. On April 16, the Supreme Court directed that voters cleared by the tribunals be included through supplementary rolls. Additions continued till the eve of voting, with 1,468 names restored a day before the second phase.

There is no clarity on how many pending cases were decided on by the tribunals before polling.

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Election Commission’s decisions

Alongside the vote roll revision, the Election Commission exercised extensive powers under the Model Code of Conduct in the state, including the preventive arrest of more than 1,500 persons, even as the Calcutta High Court stayed earlier directives for such action.

The code is a set of guidelines issued by the poll panel that political parties, candidates and governments must follow during an election. It sets guardrails for speeches, campaigning, meetings, processions, election manifestos and other aspects of the polls.

About 2.4 lakh Central Armed Police Forces personnel were deployed in the state during elections, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah announcing that they would remain in the state for two months after the polls.

Additional curbs included limits on motorcycle movement and a temporary tourist ban in Digha. A 96-hour liquor ban was also imposed ahead of voting, exceeding the usual 48-hour norm.

Additionally, after the Model Code of Conduct came into force on March 15, the Election Commission directed a major reshuffle involving more than 480 bureaucrats and police officers. This included the transfer of the state’s chief secretary, the home secretary and the director general of police, along with several other Indian Administrative Service and Indian Police Service officers.

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