'Anga, Banga, Kalinga' will have BJP governments next month: Amit Shah

PTI, April 24, 2026, Kolkata/New Delhi :  Asserting that people voted with enthusiasm for a change in the first phase of the West Bengal assembly elections, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said 'Anga, Banga and Kalinga', the ancient kingdoms that ruled present-day eastern India, will have BJP governments next month.

Addressing a press conference in Kolkata, Shah said the BJP will bag more than 110 of the 152 seats that went to the polls in the first phase on Thursday. "People of Bengal broke all records in the first phase and voted with enthusiasm for a change," he said, referring to the over 92 per cent turnout. "I thank the Election Commission and security forces for ensuring no deaths during the first phase polls," he said, noting that 1,278 people were injured in the 2016 assembly elections, and 1,681 in 2021.

Claiming that the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC's exit is imminent, Shah said the BJP will form a government in the state with an absolute majority. "We will have governments in 'Anga, Banga and Kalinga' after May 5," he said, referring to the ancient kingdoms that once ruled the region.

Having come to power in Odisha in 2024, the BJP is now seeking a third consecutive term in Assam and aiming to unseat the 15-year-old TMC government in West Bengal. The party's first chief minister in Bihar, Samrat Choudhary, won a floor test in the assembly earlier in the day.

Assam voted for its 126-member assembly on April 9, while Bengal will vote for 142 seats in the second phase on April 29. The counting of votes will be held in both the states, along with Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry, on May 4. "Since the beginning, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has had a vision of equal development of both the eastern and western parts of the country, and by forming a government in West Bengal, that vision will be realised," Shah said.

Shah said a Bengal-born and Bengali-speaking person will be the first BJP chief minister of West Bengal, alleging that CM Mamata Banerjee was peddling the rumour that "outsiders" would be brought to rule here if the party wins.

In response, Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien on Friday accused the Home Minister of trying to create a "fake narrative" about the high voter turnout in the first phase of West Bengal elections on Thursday, saying the total votes cast in 2026 actually went down when compared to 2021.

After Shah held a press conference in Kolkata on Friday, O'Brien said in a post on X that the total number of electors in 2021 for the 152 seats that went to polls in the first phase on Thursday was 3.67 crore, while the total votes cast were 3.10 crore, a turnout of about 84 per cent. In 2026, post the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, the total electors for these seats reduced to 3.33 crore, and the total votes cast were 3.09 crore, with a vote percentage of 92.70 per cent, he said.