The West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026 took place in two phases - April 23 and April 29. The counting of votes took place on May 4, and winners from several constituencies have now been declared. BJP won the elections, while Mamata Banerjee's TMC put a halt to their 15-year term in the state. Let's take a look at how the Congress and the Left Front performed in the state.
Congress and Left Front's performance in West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026
Indian National Congress and Communist Party of India (Marxist) remained on the margins in the West Bengal assembly election 2026, with limited seat impact despite a measurable vote base.
The Congress managed to secure just 2 seats as per the leads, while the CPI(M) is restricted to 1 seat, underlining how the contest stayed largely bipolar between the Trinamool Congress and the BJP. On the vote share front, Congress polled 3.25% (11,99,566 votes), while CPI(M) did slightly better with 4.24% (15,64,863 votes).
Even though both parties retained pockets of support, the numbers showed that this did not translate into seats at scale. The gap between vote share and seat conversion reflected a continued erosion of their electoral strength in the state, where they once dominated the political landscape.
When did Congress or the Left last rule West Bengal?
The Left Front, led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)), was in power in West Bengal from 1977 to 2011. That’s 34 years. A long stretch, and often described as one of the longest-running elected communist governments in the world.
They governed for seven straight terms, starting in 1977. For most of that time, Jyoti Basu was the face of the government, leading for over two decades. After him, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee took over and continued for another 11 years.
Things changed in 2011. The Left Front lost power to the Trinamool Congress, led by Mamata Banerjee. That marked the end of their long run in the state.
Before the Left came to power, the Congress had its own phase. It ruled independently from 1972 to 1977 under Chief Minister Siddhartha Shankar Ray.
After 2011, Congress didn’t really return to power on its own. It briefly aligned with the Trinamool Congress during that election. Later, in both 2016 and 2021, Congress and the Left came together again to take on the TMC and BJP. But those alliances didn’t quite work out.
