In the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured a landslide victory with 207 seats, reducing the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) to around 80 seats and ending its 15-year rule under Mamata Banerjee. This outcome marks a historic shift: the first time a right-of-centre party has formed the government in the state since provincial elections began in 1937. Voter turnout reached a record 92.93%, reflecting deep public engagement and pent-up frustration. 

The result was not merely an electoral defeat but a silent storm of accumulated grievances. Women, long a core TMC constituency, turned away in significant numbers due to perceived failures in safety and justice. Urban middle classes and rural voters alike expressed exhaustion with governance failures.

The TMC’s reliance on administrative control, local muscle, and vote-bank politics backfired as anti-incumbency peaked. Key triggers included the RG Kar medical college incident, widespread allegations of syndicate raj and cut-money culture, deteriorating law and order, and the erosion of support even among Muslims who had been taken for granted.

These factors converged to dismantle the party’s once-formidable grassroots machinery. What follows is an analysis of the core reasons behind this dramatic reversal. 

RG Kar Incident: TMC’s Role Under Scrutiny

The August 2024 rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital became a watershed moment. The brutal crime, followed by allegations of institutional cover-up, vandalism of the protest site by alleged TMC-linked miscreants, and the swift reappointment of the college principal (facing corruption charges) to another post, ignited sustained protests.

Doctors demanded justice, and ordinary citizens, particularly women, joined “Reclaim the Night” marches, highlighting systemic failures in women’s safety. 

The........

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