From The Opposition's View

Green will rule West Bengal once again. The colour that wiped out red in the 2011 Assembly Elections after 34 years of Left rule. Green is here to stay. This time with a bigger mandate minus riding piggy back with the Congress like they did in 2011.The Trinamool Congress's vote share increases from the previous figure of 38% to 46%. An ecstatic Mamata Banerjee is set to take oath once again as Chief Minister on the 27th of May. But the Opposition parties are also news makers in their own right. The Congress is disappointed at their performance. The Left Front could not win the hearts of their voters in the manner they envisioned by joining hands with the Congress. The Left and Congress both say the alliance was not a mistake. It was not just a set back for CPIM State Secretary Surya Kanta Mishra losing from his constituency Narayangarh but also that the Left Front is now relegated to the third largest party in West Bengal with 32 seats, the Congress faring better with 44 out of the 76 seats won by the alliance. While Congress State President Adhir Chowdhury too said the alliance was not a mistake, the Congress party had better takeaways from these elections, becoming the second largest party after the Trinamool Congress.    The alliance was an alternative for some of the urban populace that wanted to vote against the Trinamool Congress apart from the Left and Congress loyalists across the State. But the magic of the alliance failed to cut through the corruption issue that circulated the Trinamool Congress like a barb wire. The mandate of the people was clear with Trinamool Congress winning 211 seats. The alliance did not seem like a serious bet in a State where some questioned the quality of governance after five years of the ruling party in power. But as Adhir Chowdhury says, while gracefully accepting defeat, that these elections were fought like a Presidential election-either you vote for Mamata Banerjee or you vote against her. It was not the promises of the Opposition parties that won them brownie points serving as a viable option for the voters fed up with the incumbent Government. The Opposition party that was all smiles was the BJP, winning three seats and making inroads into the West Bengal Assembly. They were first time lucky in these elections, unlike the previous two occassions when they made it to the Assembly winning one seat in the by-election. While Rahul Sinha was leading in Jorasanko constituency in the beginning of the day, it was a complete turnover as he lost to Trinamool Congress’s Smita Bakshi. Jorasanko was where the impact of the Vivekananda flyover collapse was predicted to sting the Trinamool Congress in it’s bastion. There are many lessons to be learnt from these elections. While Mamata Banerjee showed that corruption was not a strong issue to shake her from her throne, the Left Congress alliance has learnt that there is more needed to be done at the ground level to convince the voters of their mettle as a viable option to rule the State effectively, rather than just be a last minute marriage of convenience. The BJP on their part know regional politics go beyond the Modi factor working in their favour. But something has gone right for the BJP in these elections. Now it is the road ahead that will shape people’s perception further of the party in the State before another election knocks the door. So for the next five years it is not just the Trinamool Congress that will be put to test, but the Opposition parties too, each looking to win the confidence of West Bengal’s voters.