Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Big political personalities were humbled in the latest round of assembly elections, with voters across West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala delivering a “vote for change” that swept aside as many as 50 ministers – including two sitting chief ministers – alongside several high-profile challengers in other states and a Union Territory.In West Bengal, the setback was the most pronounced. A total of 22 ministers from the TMC govt lost their seats, among them CM Mamata Banerjee, who suffered her second consecutive assembly defeat. Banerjee lost in Bhabanipur to Suvendu Adhikari, the same rival who had defeated her in Nandigram in 2021 in a closely fought contest.The rout extended deep into the cabinet. Thirteen cabinet ministers – including Banerjee – were defeated, along with five ministers of state with independent charge. Prominent names who failed to retain their seats included Swapan Debnath, Pradip Kumar Mazumdar, Bratya Basu, and Aroop Biswas.Tamil Nadu witnessed a similarly dramatic churn. CM M K Stalin lost the Kolathur seat, which he had held since 2011, to TVK’s V S Babu. The electoral setback extended to 14 other ministers in his cabinet, including finance minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan and education minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi.In Kerala, CM Pinarayi Vijayan retained his Dharmadam seat, but 13 of his ministers were defeated, including health minister Veena George and education and labour minister V Sivankutty.Among other prominent losers was Gaurav Gogoi, deputy leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha, who was defeated in the Jorhat assembly segment by BJP’s Hitendra Nath Goswami with a margin of 23,182 votes. Attempting to take on Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma while also seeking to sustain the political legacy of his father, three-term CM of Assam Tarun Gogoi, he was unable to translate his parliamentary presence into a victory at the state level.Taken together, the results underline a broad anti-incumbency sweep, signalling that voters were willing to decisively reset political equations across regions.
