India, April 13 -- In 2011, the Left Front, which had ruled for 34 years, dropped 81 lawmakers, including six ministers, as part of efforts to counter anti-incumbency ahead of the assembly polls in West Bengal that year. It did little to prevent Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) from storming to power, on the back of Nandigram and Singur anti-land acquisition movements. The TMC and Congress won 228 of 294 seats, with chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee losing his seat.

Fifteen years later, TMC has dropped 74 lawmakers, including four ministers, and changed constituencies of 15 others to counter anti-incumbency and undercut the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s campaign focus on alleged corruption. Prime Minister Narendra Modi ...