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Assembly Election Result 2016: Big Comeback For Mamata, Jaya, BJP Wins Assam; Left Takes Kerala

Big Comeback For Mamata, Jaya, BJP Creates History In Assam, Kerala
Supporters of Trinamool Congress (TMC) celebrate after learning the initial poll results of the West Bengal Assembly elections, in Kolkata, India May 19, 2016. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri
Rupak De Chowdhuri / Reuters
Supporters of Trinamool Congress (TMC) celebrate after learning the initial poll results of the West Bengal Assembly elections, in Kolkata, India May 19, 2016. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri

Celebrations broke out outside the homes of incumbents J Jayalalithaa and Mamata Banerjee as the two politicians marched home a second time in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal even as a resurgent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept Assam and opened its account in Kerala, where the Left Democratic Front (LDF) routed the Congress-led UDF in the closely-fought 2016 assembly elections.

In Bengal, serious allegations of corruptions against the ruling Trinamool Congress failed to stop the party's juggernaut as it bettered its 2011 tally of 184 seats in alliance with Congress. It won nine seats and was ahead in 205 on Thursday. Banerjee, in a heavily-attended press conference, said she will always be ideologically opposed to the BJP and thanked the election commission for ensuring peaceful polling.

"I am not a VIP. I am LIP (Less Important Person). I want to continue to live as a commoner. Majority, minority - all voted together... Do not try to divide them," she said.

The BJP created history in Assam, steered by the stellar performance of its star campaigner and Chief Ministerial candidate Sarbanand Sonowal, a politician who has kept a low profile and is now set to become the state's second tribal chief minister after Jogen Hazarika.

As the anti-incumbency factor caught up with 81-year-old Tarun Gogoi, Chief Minister of Assam, Sonowal, the ever-smiling face of the BJP from the state, is credited with stopping the Congress from returning to power for the fourth time in the state.

The seat tally for BJP went up from five in the last elections to leads in 56 seats today.

This election has also seen the rout of the Congress, which lost Kerala to the Left front. The LDF won 46 seats and was leading in 36 in the 140-member house. In Assam the Congress led only in 27 seats.

It's a tough call between the ruling AINRC and Congress-DMK alliance in the Union Territory of Puducherry which are neck-and-neck at the moment.

Interestingly, in Tamil Nadu, this is the first time since 1984 a ruling party will retain power for a second term, bucking a traditional trend, as Jayalalithaa is set to return to power a second time.

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