New Delhi, May 9 -- Best of the Week is a weekly newsletter by Siddharth Sharma/Shravani Sinha. Subscribe to Mint's newsletters to get them directly in your inbox.

The votes have been counted, the winners have been declared, and the celebrations are winding down across four states and one Union Territory. But the thing about winning an election in India right now is, the harder battle starts the moment the confetti settles.

Anti-incumbency swept through West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala on 4 May. Voters wanted change, and they got it. Meanwhile, the BJP held its ground in Assam, and a slim majority is likely to keep Puducherry's NDA government in place, barely surviving.

Each of these states walks into the next five years carrying ve...