India, May 5 -- "Chor, chor (thief)," BJP supporters chanted when Abhishek Banerjee, the chief minister's nephew and second-in-command, walked into the Sakhawat Memorial Girls School on Monday, where votes from Mamata Banerjee's own constituency were being counted. By afternoon, Bengal had turned saffron - and Banerjee's 15-year government had been voted out in a political upheaval that carries the same shape as 2011, when her own street agitations ended 34 years of Left rule.

The BJP is set to govern Bengal for the first time since Independence. The TMC's vote share collapsed from 48% in 2021 to 40.8% - a loss of more than 7 percentage points. Banerjee lost her own constituency, Bhabanipur, by 15,105votes. The decisive shift came in the...