5 ingredients in Mamata Banerjee’s Bengal magic potion

Synopsis
One of the surprises of this election was how Mamata Banerjee strengthened her position in Bengal, despite predictions to the contrary. How did she do it?

Just a 2% increase in vote share by Mamata Banerjee led All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the 2024 General Elections as compared to the previous one ensured her party’s thumping win in West Bengal. TMC won 29 seats out of the 42 in 2024 with 45.7% vote share as compared to 22 in 2019. In contrast, competitor Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lost six seats this year as compared to 2019, with its tally at 12 seats with 38.7% vote share (40.6% in