IN PICS| Who Will Hold CM's Chair In West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala & Puducherry?

Image: PTI

Mamata Banerjee rode the Bharatiya Janata Party challenge to take her Trinamool Congress to triumph for a third consecutive term in West Bengal. The cynosure of the elections, held over March and April as the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic picked up the pace to finally ravage large parts of the country, was the high-stakes, acrimonious TMC-BJP contest in West Bengal that had dominated headlines, drawing room conversations and political discourse. It was a victory Mamata Banerjee had imprinted all over the Bengal with her party winning over 211 seats which were far above the winning mark of 147. But her own seat in Nandigram was in jeopardy. The tantalising has-she-won-has-she-not game played out for much of the day as votes were counted under strict Covid protocols. Finally, It was announced that Didi has lost! Banerjee conceded defeat to Adhikari, who proved to be a tough competitor and could well emerge one of the party's most powerful leaders. Now she is set to take over the the position of Chief Minister for the third term. (Image: PTI)

After a decade in opposition, the DMK won a convincing victory over arch-rival AIADMK in Tamil Nadu and the ruling party managed to emerge as a formidable opposition, overcoming the burden of ten year anti-incumbency to an extent. MK Stalin, the 68-year-old DMK president, is all set to become the Chief Minister for the first time. During his party's previous tenure, he has been the Deputy Chief Minister and Local Administration Minister as well. As counting of votes polled in the 6 April TN Assembly election progressed on Sunday, it became amply clear that the DMK was dislodging the AIADMK from the seat of power. The DMK gained a majority in 125 seats while the AIADMK under outgoing Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami put up a decent fight and bagged about 66 seats. MK Stalin will take oath as the CM of Tamil Nadu on May 7th.

The BJP and its allies have come back to power in Assam riding on the pro-incumbency wave but the party is yet to decide who the next chief minister will be. Even during campaigning, the party had avoided questions if the incumbent chief minister, Sarbananda Sonowal, will be given a second term. It had maintained that the parliamentary board will decide the chief minister after the election.  BJP leader Sarbananda Sonowal has been the chief minister of Assam since 2016 when the party won the state for the first time – after ending Congress’ three-consecutive term rule. However, the party had not projected Sonowal as its chief ministerial face during the election campaign, leading to speculation that it may pick another leader for the chief minister’s post after the polls. Political observers suggest that Himanta Biswa Sarma, one of the party’s most popular leaders in the state, could be in the fray. The party effectively fought the election under the joint leadership of Sonowal and Sarma. While relations between the two have largely remained cordial, there have been reports of power struggles within the state unit and the BJP is said to have been walking a tightrope on the matter.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday submitted the resignation of the Council of Ministers headed by him to Governor Arif Mohammed Khan at the Raj Bhavan. The LDF under Vijayan had swept the elections by bagging 99 of the 140 seats in the Assembly. The CPI(M) state Secretariat is scheduled to meet in the AKG Centre in the capital on May 4, Tuesday, to decide on the number of Ministers of the CPI(M) and of the coalition partners in the new ministry. This will be followed by the meeting of the Left Democratic Front to decide on the Ministers and other formalities. The meeting to select the LDF’s Parliamentary Party Leader is likely to be held online as the risk of asking the newly elected 140 legislators to reach the capital can be avoided in view of the prevailing situation.Official sources said the General Administration Department and the Public Works Department had been alerted to make arrangements for the swearing-in ceremony. 

AINRC bagged nine seats while its junior partner BJP won three and the parties were leading in a seat each. Congress won two seats and it partner DMK three while leading in one seat. N Rangaswamy is likely to be made the CM as the victory of the NDA alliance hinged heavily on his charisma. Earlier, going back in history, Rangaswamy was the Chief Minister of Puducherry from 2001-8 representing the Congress party. However, due to internal politics, he resigned from his CM post in August 2008 and formed his own party named All India NR Congress on February 7, 2011. Within three months, in the 2011 Legislative Assembly Elections, his party won 15 seats out of 17 seats it contested and its alliance partner, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam got 5 out of 10 seats it contested. Rangaswamy again emerged victoriously and sat on the Chief Ministerial throne from May 16, 2011, till June 6, 2016. Later, he was succeeded by Narayanasamy in 2016.