Assembly elections 2026: Saffron spreads, a splash of new colour - how India's power map has changed

In a dramatic twist to India's political landscape, West Bengal has begun its tryst with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), marking a seismic shift from decades of regional dominance by the Trinamool Congress. The fall of Bengal — a long‑held anti‑BJP citadel — signals a fundamental realignment in eastern India, where the BJP has now carved out a contiguous belt of power stretching from the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal.Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu has witnessed a major upheaval as the new entrant TVK (Tamil Vikas Kazhagam) stormed past the 100‑seat mark, displacing the entrenched Dravidian duopoly (DMK and AIADMK) and reshaping the calculus of southern politics. In Kerala, the Congress‑led United Democratic Front (UDF) staged a triumphant return to power, breaking the alternating pattern with the LDF and reaffirming the Congress’s resilience in the south.Assam and Puducherry, by contrast, remained firmly anchored with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), underscoring its deepening entrenchment in the Northeast and Union Territories.With the latest elections results, India's political map has changed drastically.The latest electoral wave has left the BJP now directly governing 17 states: West Bengal, Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Assam, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Tripura, Goa, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, and Uttarakhand.Its NDA allies govern five more: Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, and Sikkim, taking the total to 22 states and UTs under the NDA umbrella.Area and population share: The combined footprint of these 22 units accounts for roughly 73% of India’s total geographical area and approximately 110 crore people, or about 78% of India’s total population.MLA strength: After the latest assembly elections the BJP’s tally of state‑level MLAs has surged to around 1,700 across India, more than double the count of the Congress and making it the largest party by far in state legislatures.The BJP‑led alliance now effectively speaks for close to four‑fifths of the country’s population, while the opposition bloc shelters slightly over one‑seventh.The scale of the BJP’s expansion is not just geographical but also institutional.By adding West Bengal to its ledger, the party has now created a continuous arc of power from the Himalayan states in the north through the Indo‑Gangetic belt, the western plateau, and deep into the Northeast and the eastern coast.This co‑location of ruling states reduces logistical friction for policy coordination, central–state bargaining, and election‑campaign logistics, effectively turning the NDA into a “national‑party plus governing network” rather than just an alliance.Prime Minister Narendra Modi also alluded to this arc in his victory speech at the BJP HQ in Delhi and linked his "Viksit Bharat" (developed India) pledge to what he described as a "resurgence in the East".“The pledge of achieving Viksit Bharat@2047 is linked to the resurgence in the East. In the old times, the then Bihar, Bengal, and Odisha were the three pillars of greatness of Bharat. For achieving Viksit Bharat, we need to revive all three pillars of Ang (Bihar), Banga (Bengal) and Kalinga (Odisha). I am happy all these three states have reposed faith in the BJP to move ahead on the path of development,” he added, referring to the three states by their respective old names.He described Kalinga (Odisha) as a "maritime superpower," Ang (Bihar) as a "powerhouse" of the cotton and silk trade, and Banga (West Bengal) as a cultural "epicentre."The BJP formed its first government in Odisha in June 2024 and retained Bihar, where its NDA coalition secured a landslide victory in November last year.Meanwhile, the Congress now directly controls four states: Himachal Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, and Karnataka. The broader INDIA bloc adds two more—Jharkhand and Jammu & Kashmir—to the tally.Area and population share: These six states together cover roughly 19% of India’s total area and are home to around 20 crore people, or about 14% of India’s population.While the Congress‑INDIA bloc has consolidated governing space in the south, central India, and the Himalayan belt, its land and demographic footprint remains far smaller than that of the NDA.For the Congress‑INDIA bloc, the situation is more about quality of positioning than sheer numbers.Controlling Kerala, Jharkhand, Karnataka and Telangana gives it strong economic and symbolic anchors: Kerala for its governance and social indicators, Karnataka for its tech‑driven growth, Telangana for its industrial base, and Jharkhand for its mineral wealth.Himachal and Jammu & Kashmir, meanwhile, add strategic depth in the Himalayan and frontline regions.But with only 14% of the population and 19% of the area under its direct or bloc control, the opposition will have to rely on national‑level mass mobilisation and high‑impact state‑level wins over the next few years if it wants to close the gap with the NDA.