Assembly election results: Wave of change sweeps three states, sweeping away two chief ministers, 50 ministers

NEW DELHI: Voters in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala cast a “vote for change”, ousting as many as 50 ministers, including two sitting chief ministers, and several high-profile challengers in other states and union territories.In West Bengal, the setbacks are most evident. A total of 22 ministers in the TMC government lost their seats, including CM Mamata Banerjee who lost in the Assembly for the second consecutive time. Banerjee lost in Babanipur to Suvendu Adhikari, who had defeated her in a tight contest in Nandigram in 2021.The rout went deep into the cabinet. Thirteen cabinet ministers, including Banerjee, and five independent ministers of state were defeated. The prominent names who failed to retain their seats include Swapan Debnath, Pradip Kumar Mazumdar, Bratya Basu and Aroop Biswas.Tamil Nadu has also experienced similar dramatic changes. CM MK Stalin lost the Kolathur seat, which he held since 2011, to TVK’s VS Babu. The electoral setback affected 14 other ministers in the cabinet, including Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan and Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi.In Kerala, CM Pinarayi Vijayan retained his Dharmadam seat but 13 of his ministers were defeated, including Health Minister Veena George and Education and Labor Minister V Sivankutty.Other notable losers include Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi, who was defeated by the BJP’s Hitendra Nath Goswami in the Jorhat Assembly segment by a margin of 23,182 votes. He sought to succeed Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma while also seeking to maintain the political legacy of his father, three-time Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, but he was unable to translate his presence in Parliament into victories at the state level.Taken together, these results highlight widespread anti-incumbency elections and demonstrate voters’ willingness to decisively recalibrate the political equation across regions.