IN BENGAL STORY, DIDI IS MATCHLESS

Despite high-decible campaign by BJP, Mamata holds on to her grassroot connect and betters TMC show than 2019 elections

- SULAGNA SENGUPTA

ALL factors were apparently against Mamata Banerjee the voting stretched across all seven phases from April 19 to June 1, her rivals, both Right and Left, exerting enormous weight on her Trinamool Congress.

And then amid an unbearable heat, around 78% of the electors, a turnout that left many northern states behind, came out to vote. The result shocked her adversaries: the Trinamool bagged 29 seats out of 42; the BJP stood distant second with 12 seats followed by Congress with a solitary number.