National politics set to change as Mamata Banerjee keeps West Bengal

The Left and the Congress appear to be way behind the curve in West Bengal's elections.

The sometimes eccentric, frequently vindictive but deeply rooted chief minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee is coasting towards victory, ensuring a place in history as the third consecutive non-Communist chief minister of Bengal. At last count, the Trinamool Congress (TMC)  was heading towards a tally of more than 200 seats, lower than its 2016 mark of 229 in a house of 292 (two constituencies did not go to the polls). True, the gains of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are no less stupendous: from 3 MLAs in the outgoing house to 80s in this one. But as the song says,