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 @ Kolkata 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.

-  SULAGNA SENGUPTA

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.

Her principal opponent BJP sent in their best - the "dadas" of the Bengal variety - the judgejudge-turned-politician Abhijit Gangopadhyay (Tamluk), Dr Jayanta Roy (Jalpaiguri) Dilip Ghosh (Bardhman-Durgapur) Sukanta Majumder (Balurghat). Didi came out tops at the end of the day.