New Delhi, May 4 -- The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is on course for a comfortable victory in West Bengal over the incumbent chief minister, Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress, as votes are being counted.

The BJP has been contesting assembly elections in Bengal since 1982 by fielding candidates on 52 seats, but has won none. The saffron party won the first seats in Bengal in 2016, bagging three assembly constituencies out of the 294 seats it contested.

In 2021, the BJP won 77 seats and emerged as the second-largest party in Bengal. But in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, its score dropped to 12 from 18 in the 2019 general election.

This assembly poll, however, appears set to make a massive comeback. As counting continues, the BJP is lead...