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 ■ ■ BENGALURU  TUESDAY  MAY 05, 2026  `9.00  PAGES 26  LATE CITY EDITION ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS 2026 (WINS + LEADS) ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS TAMIL NADU Oth Seats: 140 UDF 102 LDF 35 BJP 03 Oth 00 206 TMC 81 INC CHANGED 00 WEST BENGAL Seats: 294 BJP 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 107 DMK+ 74 AIADMK+ 53 KERALA BJP BIG-HITTING IN WB, CONG IN KERALA Seats: 234 TVK HOW THE MAP 02 CPM 01 Oth 03 2014 ASSAM Seats: 126 BJP+ 102 19 AIUDF 02 Oth 03 PUDUCHERRY Seats: 30 NDA 17 DMK 05 TVK 02 INC 01 Oth 05 INC 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.” Didi swept out of power after 15 years INSIDE TVK cadres celebrate at Panaiyur near Chennai after the election results on Monday | ASHWIN PRASATH MUKESH RANJAN & PREETHA NAIR @ New Delhi THE results of the five state Assembly elections have delivered more than just a verdict for parties, especially the BJP which pulled off an emphatic , mandate to end the 15-year rule of the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal. For the saffron party the victory is , more than electoral arithmetic, as it has conquered the last major eastern bastion that had resisted its expansion for over a decade. Banerjee lost her Bhabanipur seat to Suvendu Adhikari by a margin of 15,000 votes in the saffron wave and the BJP made inroads into TMC strongholds, suggesting a deeper realignment rather than a transient swing. The setback for the TMC is expected to blunt its ability to assert primacy within the INDIA bloc, potentially recalibrating internal equations in favour of the Congress. The BJP appears to have rebounded after the setback in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, when its tally dropped from over 300 seats in 2019 to 240—well short of the halfway mark of 271. Since then, the party has secured a series of electoral victories. It returned to power in Haryana for a third consecutive term, followed by Maharashtra, where it regained power after a fallout with its pre-poll alliance partner Shiv Sena. In Bihar, too, the NDA returned to power. In Delhi, the BJP unseated the AAP, which had ruled the National Capital Territory for two full terms. The BJP’s winning streak continued with victories in Assam and Puducherry where it retained power rid, ing on pro-incumbency sentiment, and West Bengal where its campaign centred on nationalism, development, and violence-free society The impres. sive Bengal win will help the BJP enter the next cycle of elections with aplomb. In 2027, the key states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Himachal 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 is now the frontrunner for the CM post. It heralded the exit of the Didi after three consecutive terms in power in the state. With a comfortable lead in 206 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 Pradesh will go to polls. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu delivered another surprise with debutant TVK, led by actor-politician Vijay emerging , the single-largest party While TVK’s . victory is seen as a verdict in favour of change, the defeat of incumbent chief minister M K Stalin came as a shocker. The AIADMK was pushed to a distant third spot. While TVK has fallen short of the majority mark of 118 seats, it is learnt the party is in talks with smaller parties as well as the DMK’s long-time ally Congress. , This is the first time since 1967, when the first non-Congress government (DMK) came to power in the state, that a party other than the two Dravidian heavyweights has emerged victorious. TVK has also reversed the long-standing trend of alternating power between DMK and AIADMK. The setbacks for the TMC and DMK, key players in the Opposition and the third- and fourth-largest contributors to its Lok Sabha strength, are expected to dent INDIA bloc’s morale, already strained by recent electoral reverses. However, the results came as a breather for the Congress-led UDF in Kerala, which stormed to power after a gap of 10 years. The BJP also broke through, ending its long-standing electoral drought by winning three seats. For the grand old party, the victory adds a third southern state to its kitty , after Karnataka and Telangana. Although Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and West Bengal saw votes against incumbent governments, the electorate chose continuity in Assam, where the NDA is set to form the government for the third time in a row. In a major blow to the Congress, its state president, Gaurav Gogoi, lost in Jorhat to sitting BJP MLA Hitendranath Goswami by more than 20,000 votes. In Puducherry the AINRC-led NDA , is set to retain power for the second consecutive term. The Congress managed to secure only one seat. seats in 2021, is leading in 81 seats. In a repeat of the 2021 result, Adhikari defeated Banerjee from her home turf, Bhawanipore. 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 suffered defeats. In 2021, TMC had formed the government for a third term with 215 seats, while the BJP had secured 77. Bengal BJP chief Samik Bhattacharya said people had rejected the TMC, 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 P6 . Of the total 28 states and 8 Union Territories 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, 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 | P6 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 comeback in Kerala by sweeping 102 out of 140 seats, ending the CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF)’s 10-year rule captained by Pinarayi Vijayan. Riding on the strong anti- incumbency wave driven by an anti-Pinarayi sentiment —as evident from the victory of UDF even in Left bastions—UDF secured close to three-fourth majority crush, ing the LDF to a 35-seat tally from its previous 99 seats. Equally spectacular was the BJP’s winning 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. NDA HAT-TRICK IN ASSAM | P7; ELECTIONS IN FIVE STATES LARGELY PEACEFUL, SAYS POLL COMMISSION | P11; BJP STORMS DIDI FORT OF PRESIDENCY AND ABHISHEK’S FIEF I P12