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BJP’s Bengal battle doesn’t end with election victory. TMC still controls local bodies

ECI ensured a level playing field for all the parties in West Bengal, unlike earlier, when different stages of the polling process were subverted by the ruling party.

The tides had turned in 2019, but it took seven more years to breach the dam. 

So momentous is the Bharatiya Janata Party’s victory in more than two-thirds of seats in the West Bengal legislative assembly that it will be dissected by academics and pollsters for the next few years to be understood properly. 

Only the main currents of change can be deciphered at this point, a day after the results. What led to BJP’s emphatic win and such a drubbing of the Trinamool Congress (TMC)? 

In the first instalment of this series, I pointed out three central factors that were expected to influence the results. These were the effects of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, intervention by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on an unprecedented scale to ensure free and fair elections, and polarisation of voters. 

As far as the SIR is concerned, the only effect appears to be the removal of spurious entries in the electoral rolls, amounting to an astonishing 58 lakh. Since the management of the poll process is overarchingly dominated by the ruling party, it is reasonable to speculate that this removal affected the TMC more than other parties. 

The impact of 27 lakh more people not being able to vote, as their names remained under adjudication as the poll commenced, is not clear. However, since no specific bias was found on the basis of community or party loyalty, it is unlikely that the overall results could have been much different. 

Political parties remain at the centre of the discussions as they contest and thereafter win or lose. However, the ECI must be considered as the main player in the Bengal elections, which have attained an unmatched notoriety for violence during and after the polls. By continuing to shuffle bureaucrats at key positions before and during the polls, by efficient deployment of central forces and by micromanaging the poll process meticulously, the ECI ensured a........

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