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The party, which had won only 77 seats in 2021, emerged victorious in 206 seats this time and threw the Mamata Banerjee government out of power after 15 long years. While the party's top leadership extended full support, the state leaders and workers worked relentlessly, paving the way for the party to come to power. Suvendu Adhikari: The Man of the moment Once known as one of the close confidants of Mamata Banerjee and the leading face of her anti-land acquisition movement in Nandigram, his switch to the BJP and emergence as a formidable challenger has been as dramatic as it is remarkable. Suvendu on Monday decimated his former boss by defeating her in the TMC stronghold of Bhabanipur. He also registered an impressive victory from his bastion, Nandigram.   What does Suvendu's victory signify? Suvendu Adhikari not only secured another win against Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram, but defeated her by a much larger margin than in 2021 (9,665 votes compared to 1,956 earlier). Moreover, he also handed a heavy defeat to the Trinamool supremo in her stronghold Bhabanipur by a margin of 15,105 votes-pointing toward a political shift that few had anticipated. Suvendu emerges as the strongest contender for Chief Minister While there are many senior leaders in Bengal BJP, but Suvendu Adhikari's extraordinary performance in this year's election makes him the strongest contender for the post of Chief Minister of the state. In 2026 Assembly polls, he ensured the Trinamool Congress's crushing defeat and the BJP's victory in all 16 seats of his stronghold, Purba Medinipur. It is important to note that the party has not yet officially declared Suvendu or any other leader for the chief ministerial post. However, Home Minister Amit Shah earlier had said that the next chief minister of Bengal would be someone born and brought up in Bengal and educated in the Bengali medium.  Suvendu meets the BJP's criteria Experts are of the opinion that Suvendu Adhikari meets all the criteria that Amit Shah had outlined during the election campaign for a chief ministerial face. Once known to be among Mamata Banerjee's closest aides, Adhikari has now emerged as perhaps her most formidable rival. In the process, he has not only reshaped his own political future but has also earned the confidence of the BJP's top leadership, including Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Suvendu Adhikari's political rise

• Suvendu Adhikari's emergence in Bengal's political landscape is rooted in his aggressive style
• He has always maintained a strong stance on issues such as law and order, infiltration, and alleged corruption under the Trinamool Congress government.
• Suvendu spent much of his early political career establishing dominance in the coastal and industrial regions of the largely agrarian Purba Medinipur district.
• In 2020, he parted ways with the Trinamool Congress.
• Suvendu Adhikari's entry into the BJP proved to be a major turning point in Bengal politics
• Suvendu Adhikari quickly established himself as one of the party's most prominent leaders in the state.
• His biggest political gamble came in 2021, when he challenged Mamata Banerjee in the Nandigram Assembly constituency.
• His victory there brought him statewide recognition.
• That win not only strengthened the dominance of the politically active Adhikari family in the region but also propelled them to the position of Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly.

Suvendu Adhikari Vs Trinamool Congress: After joining the Saffron camp, Suvendu Adhikari adopted the BJP's ideology and highlighted all the wrongdoings in the TMC camp. He soon reshaped his image from that of an inclusive leader of the land acquisition movement to a symbol of the Hindutva brigade. He claimed that if the Trinamool Congress were to win the elections, it would turn West Bengal into "East Bangladesh." Association with the RSS Trained in RSS shakhas during his early years, Suvendu entered politics in the late 1980s as a member of the Congress's student wing, Chhatra Parishad. He first contested an election in 1995 and was elected as a councillor of the Contai Municipality, which was led by his father, Sisir Adhikari, from 1967 to 2009. Abhishek Banerjee's entry changed the equation Suvendu Adhikari won the Lok Sabha elections from Tamluk in 2009 and 2014. He also became a member of the Trinamool Congress's "core group" and was appointed president of the party's youth wing. After Mamata Banerjee became the Chief Minister of West Bengal in 2011, many saw Suvendu as her political successor. However, the seeds of distrust between the two leaders were sown later that year, on July 21, during the Trinamool's first annual Martyrs' Day rally, when Mamata announced the entry of her nephew, Abhishek Banerjee, into politics.