News Desk, Bangladesh Global: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will form its first ever government in West Bengal, making history in a state that had long remained separate from national political dynamics. Mamata Banerjee has also lost her Bhabanipur seat by a substantial margin of 15,105 votes to her former lieutenant Suvendu Adhikari, now a BJP leader serving as the Leader of Opposition in the state assembly.
"Bengal has been freed from fear and will now progress," Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in an evening speech.
Banerjee, chief minister since 2011 - whose Trinamool is struggling with double digits, has alleged "loot of seats".
This was the first election after a record deletion of 90 lakh voters in Bengal under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). The BJP sweeped the majority mark by winning 202 seats and leading in 4 others, according to the Election Commission. The halfway mark stands at 148 in the 294-member House, but with counting of votes currently underway for 293 seats as polling in Falta was countermanded, the majority mark dropped to 147.
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