Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party named Suvendu Adhikari as chief minister of West Bengal on Friday, days after winning a historic majority in the state.

The BJP claimed 207 of 294 assembly seats in Monday’s results, its first-ever victory in the Bengali-speaking state of more than 100 million people.

Who is Suvendu Adhikari, West Bengal’s new chief minister?

Suvendu Adhikari is the BJP’s West Bengal state president and a sitting member of the state assembly. Interior Minister Amit Shah announced his name unanimously on Friday after a meeting of the party’s elected members. Adhikari is best known for defeating then-Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in her own Nandigram constituency in the 2021 state election.

How did the BJP win West Bengal?

The BJP waged an aggressive campaign to unseat Banerjee, the firebrand leader who had held power in West Bengal since 2011.

Analysts say the ruling party’s victory in the largely Bengali-speaking state is one of its most significant since Modi first won the prime ministership in 2014, extending BJP dominance beyond the Hindi-speaking heartland of north and central India.

The campaign was marked by protests over the removal of millions of names from voter rolls. The government billed the purge as clearing ineligible voters, but critics said it disproportionately affected marginalized and minority communities.

Violence that erupted after the results killed at least five people, including a close aide of Adhikari who was shot dead near his home in Kolkata.

When will Adhikari be sworn in as chief minister?

Adhikari is set to be sworn in on Saturday, the BJP’s West Bengal president Samik Bhattacharya confirmed. Shah told reporters the selection had been decided unanimously after the party’s legislative meeting in the eastern state.

What do the results mean for Modi ahead of the 2029 election?

The West Bengal result strengthens Modi’s hand as he navigates a series of economic and foreign policy challenges, including high unemployment and a pending trade deal with the United States, before a general election in 2029.

The BJP also returned to power in the northeastern state of Assam for a third consecutive term and retained its place in the ruling coalition in the coastal territory of Puducherry.

The party did not win seats in the southern states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, however. Tamil Nadu was won by a coalition led by the opposition Congress party, while Kerala went to a party founded by film star C. Joseph Vijay, popularly known as Vijay.

His two-year-old Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam won 108 seats in the 234-member legislature, falling short of a majority. Local media reported Friday that Vijay had secured support from two communist parties and the Congress party to cross the majority threshold, making him almost certain to lead the state.