Clashes broke out between rival political supporters in the state capital Kolkata after results were announced on Monday, with authorities confirming fatalities on both sides amid escalating tensions.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP secured a sweeping win in the eastern state, capturing 206 of 294 assembly seats and marking its first-ever government in West Bengal, a region of more than 100 million people.

The outcome ends over a decade of rule by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, leader of the All India Trinamool Congress, who has rejected the election results after also losing her own seat.

Party officials reported casualties among their workers, with the BJP stating that two of its members were killed, while the TMC said two of its supporters were beaten to death in separate incidents.

“Two of our workers were killed after results of the elections were announced on Monday,” BJP state leader Samik Bharracharya said, adding that the party remained committed to peace.

The TMC, in a statement, condemned what it described as the “brutal murder” of its grassroots workers, with spokesperson Narendranath Chakraborty alleging that party offices were attacked in multiple areas.

A senior police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed four deaths linked to the clashes and said one police officer was shot in the leg during the unrest.

Political analysts have described the BJP’s victory as one of its most significant expansions since Modi came to power in 2014, extending its influence beyond its traditional strongholds in northern and central India.

Sunday’s defeat came as Modi is being slammed publicly for failing to tackle India’s explosive spike in coronavirus infections that has left the country in deep crisis, with hospital and crematoriums swamped and people dying for lack of oxygen.

Modi addressed dozens of political rallies in the state of West Bengal hoping to widen the appeal of his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to the east of the country from its traditional northern and western strongholds.

But West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who ran the campaign for her regional party from a wheelchair because of a fall at a rally, won a two-thirds victory, raising opposition hopes Modi could be challenged across the country.

“What Bengal does today, India does tomorrow,” columnist Shobhaa De wrote in The Print, paraphrasing a quotation by 19th century liberal Gopal Krishna Gokhale.

“What happened in West Bengal is just the beginning.”

Prashant Kishor, a political strategist for Banerjee, said: “The election result has given voice and hope to those who want to fight this danger called BJP.”

The Shiv Sena, another regional group that controls the western state of Maharashtra that includes Mumbai, said that the election result was a personal defeat for Modi because he put everything on the line and ignored the health crisis.

“Instead of tackling the raging COVID-19 pandemic, the entire central government, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was in the poll arena of West Bengal to defeat (Chief Minister) Mamata Banerjee,” it said.

Iron Grip

Modi has held an iron grip on Indian politics since sweeping to power in 2014 and winning a bigger victory in the 2019 national election on the back of a strong Hindu ideology.

Until now there has been no challenger and with the main opposition Congress party unable to get its act together, Modi has been expected to win the 2024 national poll.

But images of people dying from COVID-19 in hospital parking lots and corridors because of lack of beds, hospitals themselves begging for life saving oxygen supplies and overflowing crematoriums have shaken the public mood, opinion polls show.

Confidence in the government’s handling of the crisis has plummeted since February when the second wave of infections started, according to a survey among urban Indians by polling agency YouGov.

From 89% saying the government has handled the Covid issue ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ well in April 2020, this number has declined to 59% at the end of April 2021, the latest data from YouGov’s Covid-19 Public Monitor showed.

Covid is fanning a growing anger against the federal government, said political commentator Neerja Chowdhury.

“People are not likely to forget the shortage of hospital beds, oxygen and vaccines in a hurry. They are also unlikely to forget in a hurry that the BJP’s central leadership made winning Bengal its life and death battle, when there is a real life and death struggle on in the country.”