Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP party has failed to win elections in West Bengal, after an intense campaign that has been blamed for contributing to catastrophic numbers of COVID-19 deaths and cases. The BJP targeted West Bengal heavily during campaigning but it was comfortably held by the incumbent, Mamata Banerjee, a fierce Modi critic. Elections also went ahead in the states of Assam, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala as well as the territory of Puducherry. The party held power in Assam but failed to make major gains elsewhere. The results came as India recorded more than 360,000 new cases and 3,417 deaths on Monday. The official numbers are widely thought to be a massive undercount.
