Kolkata: Mamata Banerjee is set to pull off one the greatest giant killing acts of Indian politics since Independence. Led by the 56-year-old, the TMC and Congress alliance in Bengal are set to win a massive 225 seats in the 294-member state Assembly, according to the STAR News-Nielsen exit poll, thus ending the 34-year run of the Left Front. The CPM-led Left will slump to 60 seats, the exit poll said.

Mamata Banerjee's feat is even bigger considering the fact that her party Trinamool Congress is alone garnering 181 seats, far above the majority figure of 148 seats to form the government. Congress is winning 43 seats out of the 65 they contested and are set to be reduced to a distant partner in the alliance.

In the 2006 Assembly elections, Left had won 227 seats while TMC-Congress had only 51 seats According to the exit poll, BJP for the first time will open its account in the state Assembly with two seats while independents will win five seats. Four seats are going to other smaller parties. In the Left Front, the STAR News-Nielsen poll gave 55 seats to CPM, only two seats to CPI, three to Forward Block and two to Revolutionary Socialist Party.

Massive swing in vote share:
With an 11 per cent difference in vote share – 48 per cent to only 37 per cent of Left – swing for Mamata's alliance looks pan-state and complete. In fact since her equally resounding defeat in the 2006 polls in which TMC-Congress had a little over 41 per cent vote share against 48 per cent of Left, Mamata has consistently improved her following. In the 2009 General elections, TMC-Congress had a vote share of 44.54 per cent. The swing for Mamata looks universal as she seems to have done well in urban centers as well as villages. Muslim voters have also rallied around her.

2006 was Left's biggest chance:
In the 2006 Assembly elections, Left had won 227, their biggest win in the state, while TMC-Congress had only 51 seats. It was expected that the Left, led by a reformist CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will push through economic, industrial and educational reforms in the state. But none of that were to happen as the Left Front was bogged down by land acquisition confrontation in Singur and Nandigram. Soon the hardliners took control and the Left made the suicidal mistake of stalling all push for industrialisation even as elsewhere the country made rapid progress.

The last non-Left CM of Bengal was Siddharth Shankar Ray from 1972 to 1977 during whose tenure Naxul movement gained ground and was put down as well. But that spell turned the people away from Congress, especially the farmers and industrial workers. Jyoti Basu became the chief minister in 1977 until Buddhadeb replaced him in November 2000.

Amma and Karuna neck-to-neck in Tamil Nadu:
Headlines Today Exit Poll indicates DMK-Congress are getting 102-117 seats, while Jayalalithaa's AIADMK alliance is getting 117-132 seats. As per the exit polls, Amma's AIADMK is a clear winner.  

Close fight in Kerala:
The exit poll projected the close fight in the southern state of Kerala. The LDF could win between 69 and 77 seats and the UDF between 63 and 71 seats out of the 140 seats in the Kerala Assembly.

Congress gets jolt in Assam:
The exit poll predicted that the Congress party get jolt in the north-eastern state of Assam but will be a strong contender to make form government. No party is projected to get majority in the 126 seats.

Congress may get 44 seats, AGP 33, BJP 17 and perfume businessman Badruddin Ajmal's party AUDF is expected to get 14 seats. Independent and others are projected to get 18 seats.

Also read: The rise and rise of Mamata | Polling ends in WB, 83.48% votes cast | Mamata set to storm Red fort | How Mamata was M-powered |Vote fearlessly: Mamata