Decoding the assembly election results 2026

Yesterday, in the Assembly election, most states voted for change. And the biggest result came from West Bengal, where the BJP won a landslide victory, ending Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamool Congress’ 15 year rule. In Tamil Nadu, actor-politician Vijay’s party, TVK, delivered a major sweep by coming close to the halfway mark and toppling the DMK-led government.The Indian Express' Neeta Sharma with Deeptiman Tiwary, Liz Mathew, Vikas Pathak, and Neerja Chowdhury discuss the larger message of the results including BJP’s booth-level consolidation in Bengal, the collapse or weakening of old political structures, Vijay’s emergence in Tamil Nadu, alliance dynamics, and what these verdicts signal for national politics.Hosted by Ichha SharmaProduced and written by Shashank Bhargava and Ichha SharmaEdited and mixed by Suresh Pawar