No hope left? Interpreting the West Bengal election results

Last week saw a suprise landslide victory for the TMC in West Bengal. Maitreesh Ghatak assesses the drivers of the TMC victory and argues the Left parties in particular did badly because they failed to adapt to the reality that traditional land and trade-union centred policies for rural and urban areas respectively are largely irrelevant in present day Bengal. This article forms part of a series on the 2016 Legislative Assembly Elections. Click here to read more.