The aura of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee remains undiminished even after 13 years in power. She reaffirmed her status as the numero uno street-savvy politician as her party Trinamool Congress coasted to a memorable victory in parliamentary elections in the state.

TMC has already won 16 seats and is leading in 13 other constituencies. Its nearest challenger BJP have so far won two seats and is leading in 10 others.

TMC's performance, if sustained until the final results, would mark its second-best showing in the state since the 2014 elections when it secured 34 seats.

Its victory came in the face of a sustained campaign by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah on the two issues of alleged corruption and atrocities on women and land-grab in Sandeshkhali by some ruling party leaders.

It must have been a sweet payback time for TMC this time. The party had been seething after the previous national polls in the state when it won 22 seats and BJP pulled off a surprise, winning 18 seats out of nowhere to emerge as the main opposition in the state despite a rickety organisational presence and lack of charismatic leaders.

In this year's polls, BJP also suffered two heavy defeats. Two of its key leaders -- Dilip Ghosh and SS Ahluwalia -- lost in Bardhaman-Durgapur and Asansol constituencies respectively.

Already in sharp decline in West Bengal since it was voted out of power in 1977, Congress too suffered a big blow when its state chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury lost to debutant Yousuf Pathan, former India cricketer and TMC candidate, by 85,022 votes in Baharampur constituency. This is the first time TMC won the Baharampur seat.

Another senior Congress leader Pradip Bhattacharya was in third position behind TMC turncoat Tapas Roy of BJP in Kolkata Uttar constituency.

The results in West Bengal in the 2024 election belied exit polls projection of substantial gains for BJP. At least two exit polls, Matrize and Jan Ki Baat, had allocated 21-25 and 21-26 seats to BJP, respectively.

However, in the Tamluk constituency, BJP candidate Abhijit Gangopadhyay has taken a lead of 76,867 votes against his closest competitor, Debangshu Bhattacharya of TMC.

Gangopadhyay, who entered politics by joining the BJP immediately after quitting as a judge at the Calcutta High Court, has been at the centre of political discourse due to his judgements on various scams related to education in the state. During his tenure as a judge, Gangopadhyay issued multiple orders directing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to investigate allegations of bribery and other irregularities in the recruitment process of teaching and non-teaching staff in West Bengal government-sponsored and aided schools.

According to the Election Commission data, TMC is poised for a substantial victory in the jute belt constituencies of West Bengal. The party's candidates are expected to secure wins in six seats, including three that are currently represented by BJP. Barrackpore and Howrah are among the three constituencies which TMC are expected to win back from BJP.

However, BJP managed to hold on to its stronghold in the majority of the seats in north Bengal barring the loss of Coochbehar where TMC candidate Jagadish Basunia was leading by 39,250 votes over his nearest rival BJP nominee and union minister Nisith Pramanaik.

Meanwhile, TMC's Rachana Banerjee was leading against BJP MP Locket Chatterjee by 33,047 votes.