Mamata Banerjee’s All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) swept West Bengal with 213 seats defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party, which won 77 seats. While Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan secured a historic second term, the BJP failed to secure a single seat there.
In Tamil Nadu, MK Stalin’s Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) came to power after a decade in the state, defeating All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), while Assam and Puducherry both chose the BJP, leaving negligible seats for the Congress in both the seats.
The election results for the four states and the union territory was announced on April 2.
Mamata sweeps Bengal in her third consecutive win
In a historic win with her biggest majority since 2011, the TMC led by Banerjee won the elections for the third consecutive time, with 213 seats vanquishing BJP with 77 seats and negligible presence of the CPI(M) and Congress alliance. However, Banerjee lost in Nandigram to Suvendu Adhikari, one of the most trusted allies of Banerjee who joined the BJP in December 2020 along with over 30 TMC MLAs.
During the first few rounds of counting, Banerjee was trailing behind Adhikari. By the evening, it was announced that she was leading by 1,200 votes. However, hours later, the Election Commission declared Adhikari as the winner with a margin of 1,956 votes. Addressing the media later in the evening, Banerjee said she would move the Supreme Court to probe the matter. As per the Constitution, she will have to win in one constituency to continue as the chief minister.
In 2011, Banerjee’s protests for the farmers of Nandigram was one of the catalyst for change in the state, paving the way for change after 34 years of the Left regime. She became the first lady chief minister of West Bengal in 2011 and in 2021, she is the only lady chief minister in India.
Bengali film stars performances
Ahead of the polls in Bengal, several actors had been rushing to join either BJP or the TMC. Ever since she came to power, Banerjee has been accused of politicising the Bengali film industry.
National Award-winning veteran actor Mithun Chakraborty drew flak for joining the saffron party in March. The actor started his political career with the Left, going on to join the TMC and eventually the BJP. While veteran actor Chiranjit Chakraborty, who has primarily worked in both Hindi and Bengali film industries, has been contesting for TMC since 2011 and has also won in the Barasat constituency in 2021.
Actors June Malia, Soham Chakraborty, Kanchan Mullick, singer Aditi Munshi, director Raj Chakraborty among others contested for TMC and won in their respective constituencies. While actors Saayoni Ghosh, Sayantika Banerjee, former cricketer Manoj Tiwary, among others contested for TMC but were defeated by the BJP candidates this year.
Except for actor Hiran Chatterjee who contested for BJP and won a seat, actors who joined the BJP this year ahead of elections such as Payal Sarkar, Yash Dasgupta, Rahul Chakraborty, Parno Mitra, Srabanti Chatterjee, among others could not win a seat for the saffron party in the 2021 elections.
BJP wins 0 seats in Kerala
With 99 seats of the 140 seats, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) with the CPI(M) sealing 62 seats which is its main constituent, legislative assembly elections marked the highest in its electoral history, beating its 2006 record.
Though BJP had managed to mark its entry in Kerala in 2016, this year it came back empty-handed from the state. The BJP’s ‘Metro Man’ Elattuvalapil Sreedharan lost to Congress candidate Shafi Parambil in Kerala’s Palakkad constituency by a margin of 3,859 votes.
The United Democratic Front (UDF) led by Congress could merely manage 41 seats with the Congress securing 21 seats.
In another historic win, the incumbent LDF will come into power in the state since 1983, becoming the first party to come in power for the second consecutive term after four decades.
Malayalam film star’s performances
Among the film stars who contested elections in 2021 was the National Award-winning actor Suresh Gopi, who has primarily worked in Malayalam cinema, contested for BJP-NDA under Kerala’s Thrissur constituency and lost once again. He had lost from the same constituency during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as well.
Film and television actor Krishna Kumar and actor Vivek Gopan who contested for BJP also lost. Other actors including Dharmajan Bolgatty, Priyanka Anoop, among others who lost in the election while actors Mukesh, KB Ganesh Kumar, singer Daleema, among others witnessed victories.
DMK comes to power after a decade
The DMK, with MK Stalin as their chief ministerial candidate, won the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly with a majority of 133 seats, defeating AIADMK with 66 seats after a 10 years.
While BJP could manage only four seats in the Dravidian state, Congress secured 18 seats, the CPI(M) and the CPI won two seats each, actor turned politician Kamal Haasan‘s Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) again failed to secure a single seat.
Tamil film stars performances
Tamil Nadu politics has always witnessed several celebrities from the film industry turn politicians from late J Jayalalithaa, M Karunanidhi, MG Ramachandran to Cheeranjivi, Pawan Kalyan, Kamal Haasan, Khushboo Sundar, MK Stalin, Udhayanidhi Stalin and several others.
Haasan who launched his party MNM in Madurai in 2018, made his electoral debut lost the legislative Assembly poll battle in Tamil Nadu by a slim margin of 1,540 votes to BJP candidate Vanathi Srinivasan in Coimbatore South constituency.
Actor turned politician Khushboo Sundar’s political career of 10 years span through three parties. She began her political career with DMK in 2010, moved on to the Congress in 2014, joined the saffron party in October 2020 and contested in the legislative assembly elections 2021. She lost to Ezhilan N of DMK in Tamil Nadu’s Thousand Lights seat by 17,522 votes.
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The 43-year-old actor and DMK candidate Udhayanidhi Stalin contested in the Chepauk-Thiruvellikeni constituency and won with 92, 636 votes. While filmmaker Seeman contested for Naam Tamilar Katch and lost, lyricist and actor Snehan and Sripriya who contested for MNM also lost, among others.
Assam and Puducherry choose BJP
With 74 seats, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the BJP is set to form the government for the second consecutive term in Assam with BJP winning a majority of 60 seats out of the 126 seats defeating the Congress-led alliance with merely 50 seats.
Similarly, the NDA will form the government in Puducherry with a majority seats secured by the All India NR Congress with 10 seats allied with the BJP with six seats. The BJP won in the union territory for the first time. While DMK won six seats, Congress won two seats, independents won six seats, but AIADMK drew a blank.