It was a day of electoral firsts as the results of the Assembly elections in four States and one Union Territory came in on Thursday — Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa returned to power, breaking a pattern of alternation that had held since 1989; the BJP is set to form its first government in the north-east by winning Assam and has opened its account in Kerala; Mamata Banerjee beat the combined might of the Congress and the Left Front to win West Bengal again; the Congress lost all the polls it contested, except in the Union Territory of Puducherry.
>AIADMK, Trinamool win; Cong. routed in Kerala, Assam
For the Left Front, the solace of sweeping the polls in Kerala was overshadowed by the fact that it was pushed to the third place in West Bengal.
>Of Joy, despair and resignation
Unlike the DMK, whose office brimmed with supporters even after the party’s loss was evident, the BJP and DMDK headquarters looked desolate.
>Decoding Didi's popularity
Ms. Banerjee has always been far more popular than the cohorts of street warriors she leads, even as complaints floated about her partymen spreading terror in the districts.
>Riding on anti-incumbency
The minority vote and corruption charges against the Oommen Chandy government helped in the LDF’s resounding victory.