 "The BJP has more than doubled its voter base in Bengal, from 17% in 2014, to nearly 40%. In a savings grace, the tmc too improved its vote share from 40% to 44%, though its seats plummeted to about 23 | Photo: PTI")
In an unprecedented electoral performance, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has shed its image as a force limited to the Hindi heartland and western states, and made massive inroads into the east and the south. Apart from the near-clean sweeps in its core regions, the BJP crossed a tally of 300 seats mainly owing to its advances in West Bengal, Odisha and Telangana, and consolidation of its stronghold in Karnataka.
This ensured a resounding majority win for the BJP, balancing out the losses from the Mahagathbandhan in Uttar Pradesh. While the BJP contained its loss in UP to nine seats —
