New Delhi: In 2011, Mamata Banerjee and her TMC pulled off something which shook the very core of the political arena in West Bengal. The Nandigram and Singur movements, the ouster of Tata’s Nano factory and the protests had already se the tone against the Left Front government which had ruled the state for 34 years. That year, in the Assembly elections, that reign of three decades came to an end, as people in the state voted in favour of TMC’s ‘Paribartan’ (change) pitch.
Fast-forward to 2026, and Mamata Banerjee is facing the same anti-incumbency grievances that she once raised against the Left Front government. The BJP, taking a cue from her battle 15 years ago, has called for another ‘Paribartan’ in the state, with the slogan, “Paltano dorkar, chai BJP shorkar”. (We need change, so we need BJP). This time, the first female Chief Minister in West Bengal’s history is probably facing the toughest fight in her political career.
The many problems of TMC
TMC won 215 seats in the 2021 Assembly elections when everybody thought that the BJP had a huge chance to upset the apple cart. However, since then, both the party and its chief have been embroiled in several controversies which have severely dented its “Ma Mati Manush” image, or the image of being pro-people.
The SSC scam
The biggest thing to hit TMC was the school recruitment scam. The courts found serious irregularities in appointments through the School Service Commission. Former Education minister Partha Chatterjee was arrested in the probe and later released on bail. But in April 2025, the Supreme Court upheld a Calcutta High Court order that found severe irregularities in the recruitment process and struck down 26,000 teaching jobs, leading a massive upheaval with people taking to the streets demanding their jobs back.
TMC and issue of corruption
The BJP, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and also the CPI(M) have attacked the TMC over its corruption scandals, and the corruption in the teacher-recruitment, municipal-recruitment and other areas have been lapped up by a section of the public and the media. Hence, the opposition parties have charged time and again that corruption was not isolated in the government’s tenure.
Safety of women
This is another issue which has become a major headache for the TMC. On August 9, 2024, a 31-year-old female postgraduate resident physician was raped and murdered in the RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata. It triggered massive protests not just across the state but also in several parts of the country, and the incident grabbed national headlines. On top of that, there is the Sandeshkhali controversy where women have accused local strongmen linked to TMC of sexual harassment and land grab. The controversy dealt a major blow to the government because not only one TMC leader Shahjahan Sheikh was accused, but also about whether the local administration and police acted too slowly.
The SIR factor
The Election Commission of India (ECI) conducted the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process in the state. The exercise resulted in the deletion of a total of 90,83,345 names from the revised voters’ list. Around 63.66 lakh names were removed from the first list released on February 28 which included the dead and duplicate voters. But the dangers lies in the fact that the most widespread impact of this massive voter list purge has been seen in border and densely populated districts.
In Murshidabad, a district with very dense Muslim population, a total of over 7.48 lakh names have been removed from the list. In Malda, another district with dense Muslim population, 5.88 lakh out of 8.28 lakh pending cases were disqualified. Notably, Muslims have always been a major source of electoral prowess for the TMC.
What can go in favour of TMC?
The image of Mamata Banerjee. ‘Didi’ is still the most popular political face in the state, and she still commands the loyalty of lakhs of voters who swear allegiance to her indomitable spirit and courage. As she herself has reportedly said, Mamata Banerjee is metaphorically the candidate in all of TMC’s 291 seats that it is fighting in irrespective of the respective candidate.
Also, the TMC has a huge ground-level machinery, which can help it cover all the booths and reach out to people. Also, Mamata Banerjee has expanded the flagship Lakshmir Bhandar scheme by raising its limitations from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 for general-category women and from Rs 1,200 to 1,700 for SC/ST women. She has also announced a Rs 500 hike in the monthly honorarium for purohits and muezzins, taking it to Rs 2,000 per month.
She has launched Banglar Yuba-Sathi to provide Rs 1,500 a month to unemployed youth and has promised to bring healthcare camps to people’s doorsteps. The woman and minority communities have traditionally voted for TMC, and the party will once again bank on them for victory. Now, it remains to be seen whether these strategies pay dividends for Mamata Banerjee and her TMC on May 4.