CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOGGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI ■ ■ KALABURAGI  TUESDAY  MAY 05, 2026  `9.00  PAGES 18  CITY EDITION ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS 2026 (WINS + LEADS) ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS TAMIL NADU BJP BIG-HITTING IN WB, CONG IN KERALA If a Vijay wave led by Gen Z voters blew away the DMK in Tamil Nadu, the BJP crushed the ruling TMC in West Bengal, registering a two-thirds majority. Likewise, the UDF wrested power in Kerala with a two-thirds majority. Assam and Pondy stayed with the NDA Seats: 234 TVK 107 DMK+ 74 AIADMK+ 53 Oth Seats: 140 UDF 102 LDF 35 BJP 03 Oth 00 WEST BENGAL Seats: 294 BJP 208 TMC 79 INC 02 CPM 01 Oth 03 ASSAM Seats: 126 BJP+ 102 TMC 83 INC 19 Oth 05 PUDUCHERRY Seats: 30 NDA 17 DMK 05 TVK 02 INC 01 Oth 05 CHANGED 00 KERALA HOW THE MAP 2014 In the last 30 years, Vijay has been thinking that he had to do something for the society, for Tamil people. They not only loved him as a leader, but youngsters considered him as a brother VIJAY YATRA by actor-turned-neta’s party in TN, Cong in Kerala, BJP in West Bengal Jananayagan Era Begins P R A B H A K A R TA M I L A R A S U @ Chennai I bow to people’s verdict, DMK worked well as ruling party, from now on will be good opposition party M K Stalin, DMK PIC: PARVEEN NEGI TURNING POINT FOR BJP: PM M U K E S H R A N J A N @ New Delhi PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday declared BJP’s West Bengal victory a “historic turning point” for Indian politics, saying the lotus was now blooming “from Gangotri to Ganga Sagar.” Addressing jubilant party workers at the BJP headquarter, PM Modi arrived dressed in traditional Bengali attire, a deliberate cultural gesture that drew immediate attention. The win completes what Modi called the party’s “Rise of the East” (Purvoday) vision, with BJP now governing all three eastern states — Bihar, Odisha, and West Bengal. “Today’s win is truly historic. When years of silent dedication and relentless hard work finally translate into such monumental success, the joy on BJP Karyakartas’ faces is incomparable,” he said. PM Modi highlighted Bengal’s nearly-93 percent voter turnout as “historic in itself,” crediting the Election Commission for free and fair polls. He promised that Bengal’s new BJP cabinet would immediately green-light the Ayushman Bharat scheme, take strict action against infiltrators, ensure women’s safety and , generate employment. Paying tribute to BJP founder Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Modi said his soul must be at peace seeing Bengal’s transformation. The PM said communists no longer govern a single state, calling it “not merely a political shift but a shift in mindset.” From 77 to 208, BJP aced West Bengal TVK cadres celebrate at Panaiyur near Chennai after the election results on Monday | ASHWIN PRASATH MUKESH RANJAN AND PREETHA NAIR @ New Delhi THE results of the five state Assembly elections have delivered more than just a verdict for the contesting parties, especially the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which pulled off an emphatic and historic feat to end the 15year uninterrupted rule of the Mamata Banerjee led Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal. For the saffron party, the spectacular victory is more than electoral arithmetic, as it conquered the last major eastern bastion that had resisted its expansion for over a decade. The impressive and very difficult win in West Bengal after years of electoral planning and strategy, will help the BJP enter the next cycle of elections with aplomb. In 2027, the key states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh will go to polls. TMC supremo and three-time chief minister Mamata Banerjee lost her Bhabanipur bastion to the BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari by a margin of 15,000 votes. The saffron wave made deep inroads into several TMC bastions, suggesting a deeper realignment rather than a transient swing in favour of the BJP The Bengal loss means the TMC . will lose its ability to assert primacy within the INDIA bloc, potentially recalibrating internal equations in favour of the Congress. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu delivered another surprise with debutant TVK led by actor-politician Vijay creating a record of sorts in the electoral history of the state and emerging as the single largest party While TVK’s victory is . seen as a verdict for change, the defeat of incumbent chief minister M K Stalin came as another shocker. NDA ally AIADMK was pushed to a distant third spot. While the TVK has fallen short of the majority mark of 118 seats, it is learnt that the party is in talks with smaller parties, as well as S U B H E N D U M A I T I @ Kolkata BJP’S landslide victory in West Bengal marked a dramatic political shift as the Trinamool Congress citadel came crashing down on Monday with , Chief Minister and party supremo Mamata Banerjee losing her seat to BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, who has now emerged as the frontrunner for the chief minister’s post. With a comfortable lead in 208 of 294 assembly seats during counting, the BJP is set to form a government for the first time in West Bengal. Trinamool Congress, which had won 215 seats in 2021, is leading in 79 seats. In a repeat of the 2021 result, Adhikari defeated Banerjee from her home turf, Bhawanipore constituency . the DMK’s long-time ally Congress. This was the first time since 1967, when the first non-Congress government (DMK) came to power in Tamil Nadu, that a party other than the two Dravidian heavyweights emerged victorious in the state. The TVK also reversed the trend of alternating the two Dravidian parties DMK and the AIADMK since 1967. The setbacks for the TMC and the DMK, key players of the Opposition and the third- and fourth-largest contributors to its Lok Sabha strength, are expected to dent the Opposition INDIA bloc’s morale, already strained by a string of electoral reverses in the recent past. However, the results came as a breather for Congress-led UDF in Kerala as it stormed to power after a gap of 10 years. The BJP also got a breakthrough in the state by ending its long-standing electoral drought by winning three seats. For the grand old party, the stunning victory has added the third southern state to its kitty. The party is in power in Karnataka and Telangana. The UDF won 102 seats, while the CPI(M)-headed LDF secured 35 seats. The results also mark the absence of the Left parties from governance in any Indian state for the first time in five decades. Although Tamil Nadu, Kerala and West Bengal saw a vote against the incumbent governments, the electorate chose continuity in Assam as the NDA is set to form the government for the third time in a row after securing a two-thirds majority The alliance won . 101 seats in the 126-member assembly . In a major blow to the Congress, its state president Gaurav Gogoi lost in Jorhat to veteran politician and sitting BJP MLA Hitendranath Goswami by more than 20,000 votes. In a boost to the BJP the AINRC-led , NDA is set to retain power for the second time in a row. The Congress managed to secure only one seat. Banerjee lost by 15,114 votes, compared to her narrow defeat by around 2,000 votes in Nandigram in 2021. The BJP’s lotus bloomed across the state as not only Banerjee but more than 15 ministers, including senior cabinet members, suffered defeats. Counting of votes in 293 constituencies at 77 centres began on Monday and indicated a steady march by the BJP towards a clear majority over the Trinamool Congress. In 2021, the Trinamool Congress had formed the government for a third term with 215 seats, while the BJP had secured 77. Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya said people had rejected the Trinamool, while also urging supporters to maintain peace and harmony . 2026 S A Chandrasekhar, Vijay’s father The results have been a mixed bag. Ours is an ideological battle. Such a path demands patience, resolve Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress president This historic victory is a triumph of the patience of those families who, even while enduring violence, never abandoned the saffron flag. Amit Shah, BJP BJP’s landslide victory in the state polls is immoral ... the mandate in more than 100 seats in Bengal was “looted”. Mamata Banerjee, TMC chief Cong retains D’gere South, Bagalkot Bengaluru: The Congress retained both Bagalkot and Davanagere South Assembly constituencies in the bypolls. In Bagalkot, Congress candidate Umesh Meti defeated BJP’s Veeranna Charantimath. In Davanagere South, Samarth Shamanur defeated BJP’s Srinivas T Dasakariyappa | P4 ACTOR-turned-politician C Joseph Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) has pulled off a stunning electoral debut by winning 105 and leading in two (as of going to press on Monday) of 234 Assembly seats, emerging as the single largest party in the results declared on Monday . Vijay secured a double bonanza, winning both the Perambur and Tiruchy (East) seats that he contested by a margin of over 50,000 and 27,000 votes, respectively Results were declared for 212 seats and count. ing was on in 22 seats. The verdict has ended the seven decades of Dravidian duopoly, with the debutant Guv may ask Vijay pushing the ruling DMK to prove majority to the second place. The DMK has won 58 seats on As the TVK has its own and is leading in emerged as the single two, and the Secular Prolargest party, Vijay gressive Alliance (SPA) is expected to meet led by it is likely to emerge Governor Rajendra victorious in 74 seats. Arlekar and stake AIADMK, the principal claim to form the opposition, has been relegovt. The governor gated to the third spot with may set a deadline 46 seats on its own and the to prove majority NDA led by it winning 52 seats. By securing 34.91% vote-share in a four-cornered fight, Vijay has surpassed the 30.4% votes secured by MG Ramachandran, founder of AIADMK, in the party’s first Assembly poll in TN in 1977. TVK’s performance has cut across regions and voter demographics, breaching constituencies that have been DMK and AIADMK bastions for decades. In Chennai, for instance, the party won 14 of 16 seats, with DMK president and CM MK Stalin losing to TVK’s VS Babu in Kolathur. Deputy CM Udhayanidhi Stalin managed to retain his ChepaukThiruvallikeni constituency by a slim margin of 7,140 votes. AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami has retained his Edappadi seat in Salem. The new party’s victory is perceived as a systemic dismantling of TN’s long-standing hegemony of Dravidian majors.Voters have embraced the mega star’s promise of efficient governance, signalling their desire to end corruption, dynastic politics, and entrenched power structures. A silent anti-incumbency wave seems to have swept the actor-politician closer to a decisive mandate, but the party is still about 10 seats short of a majority The hung Assembly second . , in TN, has sparked reactions from early suitors – Congress, VCK and Left parties – which may be willing to support TVK from the outside to keep BJP at bay . Of the total 28 states and 8 Union terroritories in India, NDA is now in power in 22 states/UTs, one more than last year LEFT POWERLESS IN INDIA AFTER 49 YRS After the Congress-led UDF wrested Kerala, the Left does not have power in any state for the first time since 1977 TOP WINNERS UDHAYANIDHI STALIN 7, 1 4 0 margin of victory over Selvam D of TVK in Chepauk HIMANTA BISWA SARMA Won by 8 9 , 4 3 4 beat Bidisha Neog of INC in Jalukbari R AT N A D E B N AT H Won by 2 8 , 8 3 6 Mother of R G Kar victim’s mother, she beat TMC’s Tirthankar Ghosh in Panihati PONDY: RANGASAMY RETAINS POWER, NDA WINS 18 OF 30 SEATS The NDA led by Chief Minister N Rangasamy has retained power in Puducherry, with the alliance winning 18 out of 30 seats. AINRC won 12 seats, BJP secured four, and AIADMK and LJK won one each. INDIA bloc managed to win only six seats, three independents also emerged victorious. TVK won two seats; ally NMK got one CHANDY OOMMEN Won by 5 2 , 9 0 7 beat K M Radhakrishnan of CPI(M) in Puthuppally K PA L A N I S W A M I Won by 9 8 , 1 1 0 AIADMK chief beat Premkumar K (Independent) in Edapaddi TOP LOSERS M K S TA L I N Lost by 8 , 7 9 5 to V S Babu of TVK in Kolathur M A M ATA B A N E R J E E Lost by 1 5 , 1 4 0 to Suvendu Adhikari in Bhawanipore GAU RAV G O G O I Lost by 2 3 , 1 8 2 to Hitendra Goswami of BJP in Jorhat P RAJEEVE Lost by 1 6 , 3 1 2 to IUML’s V E Abdul Gafoor In Kalamassery Cong crushes the Left, wins Kerala A N I L S @ T’Puram AFTER sitting on opposition benches for a decade, the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) staged a spectacular comeback in Kerala by sweeping 102 out of 140 seats in the assembly ending the CPM-led , Left Democratic Front (LDF)’s 10-year rule captained by Pinarayi Vijayan. Riding on the strong antiincumbency wave driven by an anti-Pinarayi sentiment —as evident from the victory of UDF candidates even from traditional Left bastions—the UDF secured three-fourth majority crush, ing the LDF to a 35-seat tally from its previous 99 seats. Equally spectacular was the performance of the BJP , which won three seats ushering in an era of triangular politics in the state known for its bipolar political landscape. For the Left, the loss in Kerala means there will be no Communist CM in India for the first time since 1977. What cost the LDF was the overwhelming public ire and resentment within the cadres. While 13 of 20 contesting ministers lost, the winning margin of Pinarayi dropped from 50,000-plus in 2021 to just 19,247 votes. With the UDF’s stunning victory, all eyes are now on who would be the next CM. The Congress legislature party is expected to meet on Wednesday or Thursday P5 .