BJP names Suvendu Adhikari West Bengal chief minister after election sweep

KOLKATA: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party has chosen Suvendu Adhikari as chief minister of West Bengal, days after the party secured a sweeping victory in the state assembly elections.

The BJP won 207 of the 294 seats in the legislative assembly in results announced on Monday, giving the party its first electoral victory in the largely Bengali-speaking state of more than 100 million people.

Announcing the decision on Friday, Indian Interior Minister Amit Shah said Adhikari had been selected at a meeting of the BJP’s newly elected members in the eastern state.

“It was decided unanimously,” Shah told reporters.

Samik Bhattacharya, the BJP’s West Bengal president, said Adhikari would take oath on Saturday.

Major breakthrough in a key state

The result marks a major political gain for Modi’s party in a state that had remained under the control of rival forces for years. West Bengal had been governed since 2011 by the regional party led by Mamata Banerjee, the firebrand politician who served three terms as chief minister.

The BJP mounted an intense campaign to unseat Banerjee’s party, and analysts described the outcome in West Bengal as one of the ruling party’s most important victories since Modi came to power in 2014. The win also broadens the BJP’s reach beyond its traditional strength in the Hindi-speaking belt of northern and central India.

The election was held in April and May, with West Bengal among five Indian states and territories where voting took place. Ballots were counted under heavy security on Monday.

Violence after the results

The election period in West Bengal was also marked by controversy and unrest. The BJP campaign unfolded amid protests over the removal of millions of names from voter rolls. The exercise was presented as an effort to strike out ineligible voters, but critics said it disproportionately affected marginalised and minority communities.

Violence that broke out after the results left at least five people dead. Those killed included a close aide to Adhikari, who was shot dead near his home in Kolkata as supporters of rival parties clashed.

Mixed results elsewhere

Beyond West Bengal, the BJP also retained power in Assam for a third consecutive term. The party was also part of the ruling coalition that returned to office in the coastal territory of Puducherry.

However, it did not win seats in the southern states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. In Tamil Nadu, victory went to a coalition led by the opposition Congress party, while in Kerala the winner was Indian film star C. Joseph Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam party.

TVK secured 108 seats in the 234-member Tamil Nadu assembly, short of an outright majority. Local media reported on Friday that Vijay had obtained the backing of two communist parties and the opposition Congress party, putting him in position to cross the majority threshold. Popularly known as Vijay, the 51-year-old is now almost certain to lead the state.

The West Bengal result is expected to strengthen Modi politically as he confronts economic and foreign policy pressures, including high unemployment and a pending trade deal with the United States, ahead of India’s 2029 general election.