Hyderabad, May 4 -- Historic upsets. Disconcerting and unexpected winners. That's the 2026 Assembly election results in four states and a Union Territory in a nutshell.

Monday, May 4, results mark such a seismic shift in the political landscape of India that the polls in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry are one for the history books. Its ripple effects are likely to change how political parties and voters alike view state-level elections.

India's political map now shows a clear division, with the saffron party dominating the northern and eastern belts, while the Congress has been relegated to a party of southern India.

On Monday, Bengal, which had long been a Communist Party of India and Trinamool Congress strongho...