New Delhi: Bengal is looking at a saffron surge as the BJP raced towards an impressive score and was closing the gap fast with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress as votes were counted today. The Trinamool is ahead in 22 of the State’s 42 seats, BJP is ahead in 18.

Mamata Banerjee seems set to concede much ground to the BJP in the State she has ruled since 2012. The BJP’s performance shows the party has been able to make inroads in the State over the past few years. Analysts read the results in Bengal as the “Left turning Right.”

It is the BJP, not the Trinamool that has benefited from the Left, which lost power in the State in 2012 after three decades of power, the Left’s vote share of 6 percent has transferred to the BJP, analysts say.

In 2014, the BJP had won just two seats in the State. Since then, the party campaigned hard in what appeared to be an unbreachable Trinamool fortress.

Over the past two years, the BJP’s efforts on the ground saw multiple confrontations with the State Government, especially over rallies and marches held on religious events, and chants of “Jai Shri Ram” competing with the traditional “Ma Durga”. With an increased tally in the State, the BJP is expected to dial up its campaign to take Bengal in the 2021 Assembly polls.

The Chief Minister is accused by her critics letting many voters slip out her grasp with her “pro-minority” policies and with her poor control over unruly elements in her party, who were accused of poll violence  and rigging.