New Delhi, May 4 -- The 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections have delivered a significant blow to the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC), as the long-held assumption of a consolidated Muslim and secular vote bank has crumbled.

A surge of regional and identity-based parties has successfully fractured the TMC's traditional support base, paving the way for a dominant showing by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in urban and suburban corridors.

The high-stakes state assembly elections were narrativised as "saving Bengali culture", with both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and TMC attempting to marry food and politics. The West Bengal Assembly elections witnessed door-to-door campaigns by candidates, especially from the BJP, holding...